Business committee chair Iain Wright MP accuses Uber of being a “seedy backstreet minicab firm”
An influential MP has accused Uber of being a "seedy backstreet minicab firm".
Iain Wright, a Labour MP who chairs the business, innovation and skills committee, made the comments during an evidence session at the House of Commons this morning.
Wright took issue with a previous Uber promotion in France offering passengers the chance to book a minicab with a "hot chick" driver.
The promotion in the French city of Lyon included the tagline: "Who said women don’t know how to drive?”
Uber has already apologised for the promotion, and in this morning's evidence session Uber’s UK head of policy Andrew Byrne said it had been "ill-judged marketing stunt". But he insisted it was unrelated to the firm's British operations.
Wright went on to claim that Uber was "not disruptive technology" but a "carry-on cabbie".
"In terms of the worst excesses of minicab principles, this is not something we want on the streets of Britain is it?" Wright asked.
The business committee was questioning Uber as part of its inquiry into the digital economy and disruptive technologies.
Richard Fuller, a Conservative MP who sits on the committee, told Morning Wire last month that it "should be looking at" Transport for London's drastic proposals to impose severe regulations on Uber and other private hire car services.
Business secretary Sajid Javid has already defended Uber to the committee, saying that TfL’s proposals were "heavy handed" and not in the interest of consumers.
"TfL is perfectly within its rights to review transport related issues in London. I think what is going to be a big test is: does the review come out on the side of ordinary Londoners that want choice, they value competition," Javid said at the time, adding: "From my own point of view, I’m not interested in heavy handed regulation. I want to make sure that consumers are put first."