Uber banned throughout Germany but the company will appeal – Reuters

             

                     
                 

             

 
                     

was already prohibited in Hamburg and Berlin, but now the restriction extends to the whole of Germany. A judge of a Frankfurt court upheld the association of taxi drivers who contested the application of Uber, which allows you to rent a car with driver – a sort of cab but without a driver behind the wheel. The American company, which operates in Lisbon since July, will appeal the decision and warns: “You can not catch progress.”

                 

                     The association Taxi Deutschland forward with a lawsuit against what it sees as a service of irregular and unauthorized transport, and accuses Uber unfair competition. The court ruled in favor of taxi drivers and went even further, considering that since the mobile application is available across the country, has a nationwide ban.

The Uber risks a fine of EUR 250 000 for each offense detected, according to the court decision, released on Tuesday. However, according to AFP, the prohibition does not apply to “package” UberBlack a service limousines with professional drivers. – Which is solely provided by the company in Portugal

“Germany is one of the Uber markets that is growing most recently in Europe. Continue to operate in Germany and will appeal the recent court case, “reacts official source company, in a statement sent to the PUBLIC. He continues: “You can not catch progress. The Uber continue its operations and to offer the service of shared travel Uberpop through its application throughout Germany. “

The German taxi drivers vow not to give up. Quoted by AFP, a spokeswoman for the Federation of German central taxis promised to provide to the court all the evidence that the activity is illegal Uber. Another federation, representing taxis and hire cars, expressed satisfaction with the judge’s decision and stressed in a statement that the transportation of clients “can not be done without permission of the public authority and accreditation of drivers.”

The Uber was established in 2009 in San Francisco, California (USA), and is currently present in 45 countries in 200 cities. But the service that sells has caused controversy and led several demonstrations of taxi drivers. Other countries, like Belgium, have also banned the application.

Access to the service is simple. The customer installs the free application on your phone smartphone , and access to, your location is detected by GPS, and it indicated the high vehicle range that is closest. Made the service request, the Uber – which functions as a kind of central taxi – contact the driver, whose name and details of the car are available in the mobile client as well as the estimated cost of the trip. Is also foreseen the possibility to share the car with another user.

The company began operating in Portugal, in Lisbon, in July this year. The first reaction of the Portuguese taxi drivers was also negative, but still no great challenge. “The service also does not work in Portugal, but when work will happen the same as in Germany,” says Florencio de Almeida, the National Association of Road Carriers in Light Vehicles (Antral), stating that so far the company still have not managed clients “In Portugal not believe people trust it.”

“In a democratic Europe and of law, this service can never be allowed, is unfair competition”, says Florencio de Almeida

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PUBLIC tried to find out how they ran the first two months of activity Uber in Lisbon but the company refused to disclose any information about it.