Denmark has fined four Uber Technologies Inc. drivers for violating the country’s taxi laws in a test court case where prosecutors have lined up similar charges against another 1,500 people.
The four drivers received fines of 696,600 kroner ($111,700) between them for a total of 7,717 illegal trips, according to a statement published Monday on the website of the Copenhagen city court. The amount matched the gross income they received from transporting passengers in 2015 before the Nordic country late last year ruled that Uber was an illegal taxi service.
The San Francisco-based company earlier this year stopped its service in Denmark, citing new regulations that impose licensing requirements on cars that function like taxis, and require seat sensors and meters, instead of using a smartphone to calculate fares as Uber does. In a separate statement Monday, Copenhagen police said it will await any decision by the four drivers to appeal the verdict, before prosecutors go ahead with the other 1,500 cases.
The charges were based on documents, containing income lists of Uber drivers, that Denmark had received from authorities in the Netherlands.
(By Christian Wienberg, Bloomberg)
