Uber agrees to £2million settlement due to violations surrounding Dutch taxi laws

The controversial ride-hailing firm Uber has agreed to pay a settlement in the region of £2million that relates to taxi law violations in the Netherlands.

The charges date back to 2014 when the private hire company offered its peer to peer UberPop service for over a year which went against local transport regulations.

Today the Dutch Public Prosecution Service (DPPS) released details of the settlement, highlighting fines across four Uber companies which include Uber International BV, Uber Netherlands BV, Uber BV and Rasier Operations B. In addition a further £237,000 in “criminally earned capital”, generated via the commission on the rides in that time period, was also charged against Uber.

In a statement by the DPPS it was added that Uber BV was given the maximum possible fine (£622,000) whilst the three other Uber entities were fines half of the maximum. The person responsible for the rollout of UberPop in the Netherlands has performed a 90-hour community service penalty leaving the DPPS to conclude themselves said happy to settle with Uber believing that the courts would have returned a similar result. An Uber spokesperson said: “We have changed the way we do business across the world, putting integrity in the core of everything that we do. We are committed to being a good partner to Dutch cities. We have shut down UberPOP services in 2015. Since then, we only allow professional and certified drivers on the app, through uberX, Van and Black services.”