Black cab drivers under United Cabbies Group (UCG) have lost their latest legal challenge at the High Court against Uber’s operating license in London.

Uber was granted a probationary license at the Westminster Court last year by Judge Emma Arbuthnot after Transport for London refused to renew it over safety concerns.

The drivers claim the decision was “tainted by actual or apparent bias” and believe that the judge did not have legal powers to reinstate the license as Uber did not meet the criteria of being “fit and proper person”. In addition, a media report alleged that there were financial links between her husband, Lord Arbuthnot, and Uber.

The judge said she was unaware there were such links but removed herself from hearing any further cases involving Uber.

Her lawyers said that she was not aware of the connections but that she should have

checked for any potential conflict of interest.

Judge Ian Burnett says the list of “tenuous connections unearthed” by the cab drivers fell “well short of evidence” needed.

He said: “Having ascertained all the circumstances bearing on the suggestion that the judge was biased, we consider that those circumstances would not lead a fair-minded and informed observer to conclude that there was a real possibility that the judge was biased in this case.”

Arbuthnot granted Uber a temporary license after hearing their appeal case that claimed that it had changed its aggressive corporate tactics and was a more responsible corporate citizen.

By Airport Pickups London