Breaking: Uber loses license to operate in London from midnight tonight

Transport for London (TfL) has stripped Uber of their license to operate in London.

The decision by TfL was made after "several breaches that placed passengers and their safety at risk" were identified.

TfL have stated it "does not have confidence that similar issues will not reoccur in the future, which has led it to conclude that the company is not fit and proper at this time."

The report found that in over 14,000 Uber trips, drivers uploaded photos of themselves to the app linked to cars they were not registered to drive. This meant passengers were being picked up by drivers not authorised by Uber.

TfL said: "A key issue identified was that a change to Uber's systems allowed unauthorised drivers to upload their photos to other Uber driver accounts.

"This allowed them to pick up passengers as though they were the booked driver, which occurred in at least 14,000 trips – putting passenger safety and security at risk.

"This means that all the journeys were uninsured and some passenger journeys took place with unlicensed drivers, one of which had previously had their license revoked by TfL."

Uber existing license to operate in London will expire at 11.59pm today.

The director of licensing, regulation and charging at TfL said: "As the regulator of private hire services in London we are required to make a decision today on whether Uber is fit and proper to hold a license.

"Safety is our absolute top priority. While we recognise Uber has made improvements, it is unacceptable that Uber has allowed passengers to get into minicabs with drivers who are potentially unlicensed and uninsured.

"It is clearly concerning that these issues arose, but it is also concerning that we cannot be confident that similar issues won't happen again in the future.

"If they choose to appeal, Uber will have the opportunity to publicly demonstrate to a magistrate whether it has put in place sufficient measures to ensure potential safety risks to passengers are eliminated.

"If they do appeal, Uber can continue to operate and we will closely scrutinise the company to ensure management has robust controls in place to ensure safety is not compromised during any changes to the app."

This is a breaking story that will be updated.