Paris (AFP)

The company Uber France was ordered on Friday to pay more than 180,000 euros in damages to more than 900 taxi drivers and their union for having set up "unfair competition" between 2014 and 2015 through the Uber Pop feature .

Uber France, definitively convicted in December 2015 by the Paris Court of Appeal for deceptive commercial practices, was this time convicted in civil matters.

The court ruled that Uber, via its Uber Pop offer, violated market rules and "necessarily caused moral damage, consisting in particular in the damage to the image and reputation of taxi drivers".

The company will therefore have to pay 200 euros for non-pecuniary damage to 910 taxi drivers as well as 5,000 euros to the union of cooperative societies of taxi drivers in the Paris region.

This case concerns an activity "which was suspended in France in 2015", reacted a spokesperson for Uber, ensuring that the application now only had recourse to licensed drivers "who pass the same exams than taxi drivers ".

It is the offer of the Uber Pop service between February 2014 and July 2015 that is at the origin of this conviction.

It allowed users to be put in contact with vehicles whose drivers were private individuals, not holders of a taxi or VTC license.

The offer resulted in Uber running into trouble with the law and a wave of protests from taxis.

It ended up being withdrawn and Uber was fined at the end of 2015 to 150,000 euros by the Paris Court of Appeal.

"It's a very good decision, it will prevent other platforms from making illegal transport," said Christophe Jacopin, president of the taxi union.

"Not only is it a spoliation in relation to those who exercise this profession legally, but also in relation to the passengers who are endangered. When you are transported by an average person, without insurance, it puts the lives of people in danger. ", he noted.

© 2021 AFP