London: Citing breaches in passenger safety norms, Transport for London (TfL) authorities on Monday revoked Indian ride-hailing company Ola of its London operating license, stating that the taxi app was not “fit and proper” to hold one.
London-based Sky News said that the TfL had reportedly discovered a number of failures in Ola’s operations, including breaches of its regime which led to unlicensed drivers and vehicles undertaking more than 1,000 passenger trips on the platform’s behalf.
The Bengaluru-based cab aggregator had launched its operations in London in February, with over 25,000 drivers registering on its platform. London was the 28th city in the UK in which Ola had started operations, with services earlier rolled out in Birmingham, Bristol, Liverpool, among others.
When Ola rode into London in 2019, its competitor Uber’s license had just been revoked by the TfL. Ola’s license revocation comes just a week after Uber’s license in London was restored by a court ruling.
Ola has 21 days to appeal against TfL’s decision. “Ola will take the opportunity to appeal this decision”, the company said in a statement, adding it would continue to operate as normal.