Uber is banned in Italy after court rules app is unfair competition to taxis
UBER has been banned in Italy after local cabs filed a lawsuit claiming the company poses unfair competition.
The international hire firm now has 10 days to shut down its services in the country or face fines of €10,000 (£8,500) for each day that it defies the courts.
Uber said the court ruling is based on a law from 1992 - but plans to appeal the decision.
A spokesman said: “We are shocked by the Italian’s court decision. Thousands of professional, licensed drivers use the Uber app to make money and provide reliable transportation at the push of a button for Italians.”
But Italy is not the first country to ban Uber as the Californian taxi giant has also been kicked out of Taiwan, Thailand and India.
Since it came to Europe in 2011, cities such as Berlin and Madrid have temporarily banned Uber and Denmark declared it an illegal taxi service.
The company doesn’t classify itself as a taxi company, but as a “platform”.
Uber is headquartered in San Francisco, California and was founded in 2009.
For now the app has been ruled legal in London by the High Court of Justice in October 2015.
Transport for London claimed that that way Uber calculates its fares falls under the definition of a taximeter but the courts ruled against the claim because the definition of taximeters does not include GPS technology, which the app’s service does.
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