Well, that didn’t last long. At the beginning of September, a court in Frankfurt banned car hire app Uber across Germany because it lacked adequate insurance and licenses to carry passengers. Just two weeks later, they’ve overturned the ban on a technicality.
Here’s an excerpt from the Financial Times:
“[The ] court ruled that taxi drivers had waited too long before seeking an emergency injunction… although some of the taxi drivers’ legal arguments aagainst Uber were valid, the strict conditions needed to grant an emergency injunction were not met”.
In other words, it was over turned on a technicality.
At the time of the original ban, Dieter Schlenker, the chair of Taxi Deutschland, said that his group had launched its campaign because “Uber cashes in without investing and doesn’t take any responsibility”:
“Drivers are not checked and they are getting neither national insurance nor set wages. Vehicles are not registered or insured for transportation, passengers lose all important protection. On top of all the government loses out on tax income.”
Uber hasn’t fundamentally changed its business model to address any of this – so Taxi Deutschland has selflessly said it will appeal.
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You can read our original story on the ban here.
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