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Uber cleared for Fife booking office after hundreds of taxi trade objections fail statutory signature rules
Fife Council has approved a booking office licence for Uber Scot Limited, clearing a significant regulatory hurdle for the ride-hailing company to expand its operations in Fife.
The decision was taken by the council’s Regulation and Licensing Committee on Tuesday 22 September 2026 following a special hearing convened specifically to determine Uber’s application for premises at Rosyth Business Centre on Cromarty Campus.
The application had attracted 431 objections, including representations from taxi operators, drivers and trade groups concerned about the potential effect of Uber’s entry on Fife’s existing licensed trade. Around 25 objectors had been expected to address councillors at the hearing.
The proceedings changed sharply when Uber Scot Limited’s solicitor, Kevin Clancy, argued that the objections were legally incompetent. Fife Council solicitor Kimberley Langer subsequently advised the committee that none of the objections received had been signed by hand or electronically, other than containing a printed name.
Langer’s legal opinion was that the objections were therefore not competent under the relevant legislation. The committee took a lengthy recess before returning to consider how the application should proceed.
Committee convener Councillor Tom Adams then moved that the application proceed on the basis of the legal advice. He told the meeting that, without competent objections, the application would ordinarily have been determined under delegated powers rather than reaching the committee. Councillor Donald Lothian seconded the motion and the application was approved.
The ruling means the substantive concerns raised by objectors were not determined on their merits at Tuesday’s hearing.
The approval represents a big change from the position before the hearing, when Uber’s application remained undecided. Uber applied on 23 January for a booking office licence connected with a unit at Rosyth Business Centre, with proposed operating hours of 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
A booking office licence concerns Uber’s ability to operate its booking business under Scotland’s licensing framework. It does not itself grant licences to individual private hire cars or drivers, which remain subject to the applicable licensing requirements.
The decision could have substantial competitive implications for Fife’s taxi and private hire market. Existing operators had argued that Uber’s arrival could affect commercial work and driver availability, while the council’s transport procurement manager had separately raised potential concerns about the longer-term supply of operators for school and social-work transport contracts.
