Regulation of Uber in the UK

Abstract

Uber (By using the company’s name ‘Uber’ in this chapter, we refer to Uber X/Uber Black, and not the UberPop and UberEats services. In the domestic context, Uber is understood as a transportation company and not as a mere intermediary between service-providers and customers using the Uber app. See Aslam v Uber BV [2017] I.R.L.R.4 (ET) 89, 92. This interpretation of the company’s nature, legal status, purpose and obligations is in line with the interpretation of CJEU on the same matter in Case C-434/15 Asociacion Profesional Elite Taxi v Uber Systems Spain SL, judgment of 20 December 2017, ECLI:EU:C:2017:981.) is omnipresent in the United Kingdom (UK): from Glasgow to Brighton and from Cardiff to Cambridge, through the major English cities of London, Manchester, Leeds, Birmingham and Nottingham (Uber 2019). Uber’s operation in the UK is mutually beneficial: the UK is an important market for Uber globally, and, in turn, Uber is a main player in the UK market for personal transport, giving it political leverage Dudley et al. (2017). Regulatory issues on Uber’s operations, the employment status of Uber drivers, as well as uncertainty as to the possibility of Uber’s liability for personal injury and property damage have been drawing significant attention in the legal and political discourse on the British Isles. This chapter grapples with the interplay of these legal matters and Uber’s rise and expansion in the domestic context. Before proceeding any further, however, two complications need to be addressed from the outset.