Spanish judge orders temporary shutdown of Uber

A judge on Tuesday banned the popular smartphone taxi service Uber from operating in Spain, court officials said, following similar actions in several other countries. Drivers hired for rides using their privately-owned cars via the UberPop application “lack the administrative authorisation to carry out the job, and the activity they perform constitutes unfair competition,” the court ruled. The Spanish court also ordered telecom companies and payment service providers to block Uber, which both reserves taxis and processes payments via smartphone applications. The ruling was a “precautionary measure” adopted while the court examines a case brought by the Madrid Taxi Association. Similar legal challenges from traditional taxi services have proliferated elsewhere, as the cheaper Uber option has lured passengers away.

[Uber] will continue to respect Spanish law.

A Uber statement

Uber has been under fire recently for a spate of issues including rape, ‘misleading statements’ and allegations of sexism. The city government in New Delhi on Monday banned Uber from operating in the Indian capital after a passenger accused one of its drivers of rape. Dutch judges on Monday banned the UberPOP service from taking bookings in the Netherlands, and threatened the company with fines of up to $123,000 in cases of infringement. Authorities in Denmark and Norway have also filed complaints against Uber. And in Germany, a court in Frankfurt threw out an injunction against Uber in September.

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