The Brussels Court of Appeal has ruled that the vast majority of Uber drivers will no longer be allowed to serve customers from 18.00 p.m. Friday. Uber is investigating whether it can appeal the decision. For the 95% of Uber drivers who do not have a taxi permit, but a VVB (limousine) permit, it is a hard blow. According to the trade magazine Magazine Passenger Transport Uber must ban them from the platform from Friday evening. Without the approximately 2.000 VVB drivers, it is virtually impossible for Uber to provide a reasonable service. In size, Uber is almost the same size as the Brussels taxi sector. After years of fighting Uber's practices, the sector is delighted.

Many Uber drivers applied for a VVB permit in Brussels, Flanders and Wallonia, often because the requirements for this permit are lower than those for a taxi permit. But the taxi sector regularly showed that Uber did not (also) respect the requirements of the FVO legislation – rental of a vehicle for a longer period of time. Only 5% of drivers applied for a taxi permit in Flanders. They can continue on Friday.

For most Uber drivers, Uber is the only source of income and many have gone into debt for a reasonable car. In the coming days, they will probably implement the threat - made during the latest Uber demonstration - to paralyze the center of Brussels: "We will show ourselves."

The Court based the driving ban on a strike order from 2015. At that time, Uber – which started in 2014 with UberPop in which private drivers provided transport – had only just started operating in Brussels, but taxi organizations led by taxi company Taxis Verts quickly filed a lawsuit against the newcomer. They thought that Uber drivers were driving without a taxi license as unfair competition. The court now followed the taxi sector in that reasoning and issued a strike order. For each illegal Uber ride, the American company must pay a fine of 10.000 euros, with a maximum of 1 million euros.

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no more Uber from 18.00 p.m. Friday

Uber shut down the UberPop service, but a few months later launched another form of service, UberX, which Uber saw as a limousine service, requiring drivers to obtain a special VVB permit. In that way, Uber still went crescendo in the Belgian capital, but the taxi sector felt that there was hardly any difference between UberPop and UberX. This was mainly due to the fact that the Uber drivers were not just waiting for a ride order, but were driving around town looking for business.

A remarkable decision by the Brussels business court several years ago, in which it claimed that Uber does not provide taxi services, made Uber appear to be winning. The Court of Appeal is now reversing the company court's decision and upholding the strike order from 2015. “We are very concerned as 2.000 Brussels FVO drivers will lose the ability to generate revenue from Friday,” Uber said in a press release.

"This ruling is based on outdated regulations that predate the arrival of smartphones and which the government has promised to reform for seven years," said Uber Belgium chief Laurent Slits. “We urge the Brussels government to swiftly reform the sector so that drivers can continue to work and provide livelihoods for their families.”

A few months ago, Uber shut down its app for several hours to support Uber drivers' protests against the lack of reforms. The taxi plan of Minister-President Vervoort, which aims at equalizing the different types of drivers, a system of minimum rates and – following the Flemish example – two types of taxis (standing taxis and street taxis), has been proposed in outline, but the parliamentary route has yet to be taken. before it becomes reality. It seems unlikely that it will succeed this year.

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“This is a cold shower for the drivers,” says Asmaa Snaïbi in De Standaard. She is the mouthpiece of dozens of drivers. “A complete catastrophe. The system has been tolerated for years, and they continued to issue permits. People have built their whole lives around this, and now they are taking everything from us.” The Uber drivers, who work as freelancers, will no longer have an income from Friday. “It is a scandal that the Brussels government has lingered for so long,” says Snaïbi. “This misery for hundreds of families could have been avoided. But we are going to mobilize.”

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