Despite Copenhagen Police stating categorically today that it is illegal to transport customers in private cars as a driver for the international transport network Uber, the head of the Danish branch of the company is encouraging its members to keep driving, DR reports.
READ MORE: Danish taxi drivers demonstrating against Uber
Søren Wiborg, a police commissioner at Copenhagen Police, said the first Uber drivers had been charged in November and that police would continue to stop road users deemed to be providing so-called unlicensed taxi services.
“We are following the provisions of the taxi law that cars should be registered for commercial passenger transport, and if they are not, we consider it unlicensed taxi services,” he said.
“Drivers risk a fine of 5,000 kroner and they also risk having their number plates clipped if they continue.”
Uber: it’s carpooling
But Mathias Thomsen, the head of Uber in Danmark, is defiant.
“We feel sure of and believe that Uber is operating within the law in Denmark,” he said.
“If our partners need help or support in the cases we are being dragged through, then we will of course help them as much as we can.”
Uber doesn’t consider itself a taxi service, but a carpooling scheme, and therefore doesn’t believe that the provisions of the taxi law apply to it.
“Uber’s business model is based on individual partners who drive on their own terms, and who we connect with users in the city,” Thomsen said.
