Judge orders private taxi service Uber off Brussels streets

Uber is an internet-based service that allows customers to contact drivers via a smartphone app. The taxis work only through the app service and are not allowed to pick up random passengers on the street. Uber contracts drivers in various cities, whose up-scale cars are privately owned and not marked as taxis.

Uber, which started in the US, is opposed by the government of the Brussels-Capital Region because the taxis are not licensed and drivers are not bound by the regulations imposed on local taxi drivers. According to Brussels transport minister Brigitte Grouwels, Uber represents unfair competition.

When the service started operating in Brussels two months ago, Grouwels warned that the drivers were running the risk of having their vehicles impounded – a threat that was realised in early March, when police seized two Uber vehicles in the Elsene district.

“There are in Brussels 3,000 families who are wholly or partly dependent on taxis to earn a living,” Grouwels said. “That’s important. We’re not simply going to throw that away for the sake of a wild new initiative.”

The court challenge to Uber, however, was led by the federations representing licensed taxis, not by the government.

The decision of the Brussels commercial court provoked a reaction from the vice-president of the European Commission, Neelie Kroes, who took to Twitter to say she was “totally indignant” at the ruling, stating “this is not the 19th century”. On her personal blog, she wrote: “What sort of justice system is this? This ruling has nothing to do with protecting or helping passengers. This is the protection of a taxi cartel.”