London mayor criticises Uber for pressure on TfL

London mayor Sadiq Khan has hit out at Uber for making ‘aggressive’ threats to sue Transport for London after it denied the ride-hailing firm a licence renewal last week.

The US tech firm has expressed outraged after the decision last Friday which banned it from operating in the UK capital, amid concerns over public safety and security.

Khan, who is also chairman of the transport authority, said Uber had used an ‘army’ of lawyers to pressurise TfL.

"What you can't do is have a situation where unfair pressure is brought on a quasi-judicial body, where there are officials working incredibly hard,” Khan said.

"I appreciate Uber has an army of PR experts, I appreciate Uber has an army of lawyers - they've also made aggressive threats about taking us to court."

Uber said on Sunday it would appeal the decision to remove its licence, and defended its operations in London.

“Uber drivers in London pass the same DBS background checks as other private hire services — see their name, photo & TfL license number in-app,” the company said.

But in August, the Metropolitan police’s taxi and private hire team suggested Uber, which is backed by powerful investors such as Goldman Sachs and BlackRock, was putting concerns for its reputation over public safety as it was either not disclosing, or taking too long to report, serious crimes including sexual assaults.

However, after TfL's said Uber was being denied a licence extension due to its "lack of corporate responsibility representative" a representative for the company said on Monday that the company was still trying to work out what it had done wrong.

"It’s just not clear for us what their concerns might be," head of cities Fred Jones told the BBC.

A petition set up on Change.org has garnered almost three-quarters of a million signatures, as it asks for Khan to reverse the decision made by TfL.

Last October, a London employment tribunal ruled against the ride-sharing company in a landmark case which will see the firm's drivers classed as full-time workers rather than self-employed, though in April this year it was granted the right to appeal the decision but agreed to grant drivers sick pay and injury cover as part of a security scheme costing £2 a week.