Brighton and Hove urged to welcome taxi-hailing app

Uber has applied to operate in Brighton and Hove

City chiefs considering whether to allow Uber to operate in Brighton have been told they would be "out of their minds" to ban the taxi-hailing app.

Councillors earlier discussed whether to grant a licence to Uber, but the meeting was adjourned without a result.

They said they would write to Uber "as soon as possible" with a decision.

Objections came from the GMB union and taxi companies, but calls were also made for the council to support Uber drivers as small business owners.

Councillor Mary Mears said there were serious concerns and urged the council to refuse the licence.

Founded six years ago, San Francisco-based Uber "connects riders to drivers" with an app that uses GPS technology to locate available vehicles.

Users tap their phone to hail a cab and pay automatically on arrival with a credit or debit card.

Drivers sign up as independent contractors and are their own boss.

'Dot com-savvy'

In Brighton, objections to the application raised issues about identification of Uber cars, whether vehicles would be wheelchair accessible, whether customers' data was secure, and how drivers would be checked.

But Darren Fell, founder of Hove-based Crunch Accounting, which works for micro-businesses including Uber drivers, said the city had to embrace change.

He said there were already 15,000 Uber drivers in the UK, the smartphone app was creating thousands of new business owners, more platforms were emerging in the marketplace and the world was changing.

Arguing that Uber would bring an economic boost to Brighton and Hove, he said: "The council would be out of their minds to consider banning it. We are an entrepreneurial, dot com-savvy city.

"I want to see the council behind it. Do they support digital business or don't they?

"Users absolutely love it and all around the world we see people trying to ban it."

He said Uber offered a livelihood for someone who could not invest in a Hackney carriage - and it also offered drives balanced lives.

"Many of the drivers are family men," Mr Fell said.

"They can spend time with their family, their wife can go to work, they can see their children, and then they can go out to work in the evening in complete control of their lives.

"This is what the freelancing world gives people."

A spokeswoman for Uber said: "Uber has been licensed as an operator by more than 30 city councils across the UK and we look forward to being able to offer a safe, reliable and affordable choice in Brighton and Hove.

"We submitted our application over seven months ago and we've since seen over 85,000 people download and open the app so we're excited about the potential in the region."