PARIS

Uber drivers demanding higher fares blocked roads to Paris airports, creating gigantic traffic jams that forced Christmas travellers to walk the final few hundred yards to terminals.

Hundreds of striking drivers blocked the main road to Charles de Gaulle Airport for about five hours on Friday morning before driving slowly to Uber’s offices, further disrupting Paris traffic on one of the busiest days of the year.

It was the largest of a series of recent protests by French drivers who say Uber’s low fares are “disgraceful” and “degrading”.

Uber cut the minimum fare was to €5 (£4.25) last year, because of what the company said was heightened competition from other taxi apps. Drivers, some of whom say they earn as little as €3.75 an hour, want it raised to €8.

They also oppose the ride-hailing app’s move to increase the commission it charges drivers from 20 to 25 per cent.

Sayah Baaroun of the Unsa-VTC union urged “all minicab drivers to stop working on Friday morning and boycott Uber.”

Clashes broke out between strikers and drivers who kept working in earlier protests.

About 120 drivers were fined for obstructing traffic, Paris airport officials said. Dozens of drivers also blocked roads in Lyon.

Uber, the most popular taxi app in more than 100 countries, works with 15,000 drivers in France.

Uber announced that it was willing to resume negotiations as the French government named a mediator. Talks between the company and drivers collapsed earlier in the week.

Uber’s announcement that it was creating a €2 million (£1.7 million) “aid fund” for drivers infuriated union leaders, who said they wanted drivers to be able to earn a decent living, not to be given handouts.

Thibaud Simphal, Uber’s general manager for western Europe, said: “We’re prepared to cut our margins and/or increase our prices for users provided the whole sector follows us. For the time being, we’re the only ones making this offer.”

Mr Simphal said Uber drivers could choose to work for rival services and rejected claims by some that they cannot make a living because of the low fares.

“They’re free to work with us or our competitors, or to leave when they wish,” he said. “The only thing that allows us to keep them is the profitability of their work with us and the reliability of our app.”

Mr Simphal said “numerous studies… show that drivers do earn a living.”

The mediator, Jacques Rapoport, a former senior executive with the national French rail company, has been given until the end of January to try to settle the dispute.

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