The Uber/Lisbon website, which arranges private cabs for happy customers, is still live with passengers able to access the service despite an injunction banning the website from operating.
New customers may register and existing customers use the Uber cab services despite the Central Court of Lisbon granting a banning odder to Antral, the deeply worried National Association of Road Transporters in Passenger Cars.
The reason that Uber management did not immediately pull its website is simply that officials had not bothered to inform them of the court decision.
Antral, which applied for and was granted the injunction to halt Uber in its tracks, hopes that the US company will be fined €10,000 per day for ignoring the court decision.
Antral, in an attemmpt to derail Uber's operations has notified banks, phone companies and the business communities in Lisbon and Oporto to persuade them to halt payments, phone traffic and other logistics that Uber uses.
"We will now submit a major legal action to claim damages for the harm Uber has caused us," said the president of Antral which represents and regulates taxi drivers in Portugal.
Antral’s Florencio Almeida claims that ‘Uber is not in accord with transport laws and work without permits and without licenses.
Last week representatives from Uber in Portugal attended a parliamentary hearing to explain how this new business works.
They said that Uber simply is an aggregator of passenger transport services, which has no cars or drivers but links drivers and passengers and ensures that everything is billed correctly and all taxes paid.
Uber now operates in over 200 cities with passengers summoning a cab using a mobile phone app.
The advantages include the payment method, an automatic debit on the customer’s credit card, the low cost and speed of marrying cab with passenger.
Traditional taxi services in many cities worldwide have been complaining and seeking injunctions as their traditional service rapidly is becoming a thing of the past with customers deciding that Uber is a preferable service.
https://www.uber.com/cities/lisbon
See also:
http://www.algarvedailynews.com/news/5463-uber-cab-service-banned-in-portugal#comment-4442
Comments
On the ground that they cannot do it the same way (or better) as the newcomer and that they would get broke and unemployed? Don't like free concurrence?
Yes, that is good for a Portugal from before 1986. But if you play capitalism, then you should understand the name of the game.
Uber has not been informed of the court decision as it was not invited to attend so is Antral's action legal?
Amazing - with all the fraud, corruption, bribery and general mayhem in Portugal the authorities actually - all along - knew how to track payments in and out of bank accounts.
Yet never did so when it mattered - starting 30 years ago.
So giving the EU a useful partner state - not what we got.