Uber seems to be developing an affinity for European courts. The cab aggregator has now been dragged to a Danish court on charges of assisting two of its drivers in breaking local taxi laws and stands to face serious fines in the country.
In a press release, Danish public prosecutor, Vibeke Thorkil-Jensen, said
It is now established that the drivers have run contrary to taxi legislation. Therefore, we indicted the company behind to help these illegalities. There is a fundamental test case where prosecutors want to get the court’s assessment of contributing sense lasted for illegal taxi services.
According to Reuters, an Uber driver in Denmark was held guilty of violating local taxi laws last month and subsequently fined 6,000 Danish crowns. Another Uber driver was similarly and additionally sentenced on the grounds of failing to appear in the courts.
The Danish public prosecutor is initially making a case to fine Uber around 30,000 crowns. However, if the prosecution is successful, the fine could be increased to a much higher amount, as the prosecutor could indict Uber for facilitating illegal taxis for each trip an Uber driver is convicted of making. So basically, a fine for every trip made by the said drivers.
This is not the first time the company is facing judicial troubles in Europe. Earlier this week, the company could be found in the European Court of Justice for a long-awaited hearing that will decide whether Uber is a transportation service or a digital platform so as to be sure of how the business will be regulated in European countries in future.
It will be hard time for the company if the judges decide to label it under a transportation company, as Uber thereafter will have to comply with national laws and will have to put checks upon its expansion in the region — besides a whole lot of other complications. The company is doing its best to make a case for being labeled as a digital facilitator of sorts.
This particular complaint against Uber was filed by a Spanish taxi association back in 2014 and a year later the case was referred to the European Court of Justice. A decision is not expected until at least next year.
