Uber and two executives fined by French court

A French court has fined Uber and two of its executives for running an illegal transport service with non-professional drivers, on Thursday.

Uber POP connected anyone with a car and driver’s license to offer a taxi service as opposed to registering with the authorities.

Uber was fined €850,000, half will be suspended. Pierre-Dimitri Gore-Coty, director for Europe, Middle East and Africa was fined €30,000 and Thibaud Simphal, head of Uber in France was fined €20,000.

They were found guilty of deceptive commercial practices and accomplices in operating an illegal transport service.

Although Uber has been caught up in many legal disagreements it was the first time executives form the world’s most valuable venture-capital backed start-up had gone on trial.

Uber operates in 60 countries, but last week Uber POP was banned in Germany after an appeal. It is illegal in Italy and Span, and is awaiting appeals in Belgium and the Netherlands.

The company said they banned Uber Pop last summer and that they are “disappointed” by the decision and will appeal.

They also said that the European Commission published guidelines which support services like Uber.

The European Commission said EU countries should only ban business from the ‘sharing economy’ like Uber, Airbnb and BlaBlaCar as a last resort.