Uber lost its licence to operate in London last Friday (in case that somehow passed you by) and, unsurprisingly, there's been a backlash, with around 750k people having signed a petition against the ban (at the time of writing), and the company fighting Transport for London's (TfL) decision tooth and nail.
But London Mayor Sadiq Khan has hit back against Uber's "aggressive" tactics, saying the firm has put "unfair pressure" on TfL with an "army" of PR experts and lawyers and threats to take the organisation to court, the BBC reported.
Khan, who is chairman of TfL but reportedly wasn't involved in the decision, said: "What you can't do is have a situation where unfair pressure is brought on a quasi-judicial body, where there are officials working incredibly hard.
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"I appreciate Uber has an army of PR experts, I appreciate Uber has an army of lawyers – they've also made aggressive threats about taking us to court," Khan continued. Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, he also implied that Uber couldn't have it both ways: acting aggressively at the same time as telling journalists it wanted to do a deal with TfL.
Uber, which lost its licence over public safety and security concerns, tweeted on Sunday that it would fight TfL's decision in the courts for the sake of its "40,000 licensed drivers" and the 3.5 million Londoners who, it says, use the app.
We intend to challenge this in the courts to defend the livelihoods of drivers & the consumer choice of millions of Londoners who use Uber.
— Uber (@Uber) September 24, 2017
Uber said it wanted to hold talks with officials from TfL's taxi and private hire department, which made the decision, "as soon as possible". The company's London licence will expire on 30th September and it has three weeks to appeal the decision.