Transport for London (TfL) has now stripped Indian-ride hailing firm Ola’s licence to operate in London after not meeting public safety requirements. According to the Tech Crunch, Ola specifically failed to meet requirements for licensing related to drivers and vehicles and plans to appeal TfL’s decision.
According to TfL it had discovered a number of failures in Ola’s operations, including breaches of its licensing regime, which led to unlicensed drivers and vehicles undertaking more than 1,000 passenger trips on the platform’s behalf. The company has 21 days to appeal the decision and can continue operations in the meantime. Ola said it will appeal the decision, and continue to operate pending the outcome of the process.
According to Sky News, Helen Chapman, TfL’s director of licensing, regulation and charging said the regulator discovered “multiple failures” around Ola’s use of unlicensed drivers and vehicles, which “may have put passenger safety at risk.”
Ola said the issue arose due to “use of different conventions in its databases,” which it is “working to fix on priority”.
“At Ola, our core principle is to work closely, collaboratively and transparently with regulators such as TfL. We have been working with TfL during the review period and have sought to provide assurances and address the issues raised in an open and transparent manner. Ola will take the opportunity to appeal this decision and in doing so, our riders and drivers can rest assured that we will continue to operate as normal, providing safe and reliable mobility for London." Marc Rozendal, Managing Director of Ola UK said.
This comes just days after competitor Uber regained its licence to ply in London for another year-and-a-half (18 months).