UBERK...... DENMARK

Ride-hailing group Uber Technologies' [UBER.UL] European business has been indicted in Denmark on charges of assisting two drivers in violating taxi laws, the Copenhagen police's head of public prosecutions said on Friday.

The indictment of Uber BV is a test case seeking judicial assessment of possible complicity by the company in illegal acts by its drivers, Copenhagen police's top prosecutor Vibeke Thorkil-Jensen's said in a news release.

An Uber driver in Denmark was convicted last month of violating taxi laws and fined 6,000 Danish crowns ($855), the latest blow to the ride-hailing service that has stirred protest and legal action worldwide. A second driver was sentenced in absentia after failing to appear in court.

Uber has run into legal hurdles in numerous countries and some of its drivers, who are not covered by strict licensing and safety rules, have been convicted of operating illegal taxi services.

This is the first time Uber itself has been indicted in Denmark.

"We welcome the opportunity to clarify our legal position to the prosecutor," an Uber spokesperson told Reuters, adding that the company is encouraged by recent indications that the Danish government intends to "modernize" regulations.

The Copenhagen prosecutor will initially seek to fine Uber 30,000 Danish crowns, Thorkil-Jensen said. If the court rules against Uber, the prosecutor said that separate fines could be sought for any future violations by Uber drivers.

A date has yet to be set for the case to be heard in Copenhagen's city court, the prosecutor said.

Uber that said its ride-hailing app will continue to be available in Denmark while the process is ongoing.

http://reut.rs/2fYIvRn
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 WYTHENSHAWE.  MANCHESTER

 Two ‘teenage’ girls have been arrested after a taxi driver was ‘beaten to a pulp’ in Wythenshawe.

Witnesses say the 47-year-old victim was attacked by a gang of youths after telling them he was booked.

They told the M.E.N the group – two girls and two boys – first tried to take the driver’s keys, before launching a vicious assault.

The victim managed to escape and run off up the road, but is said to have been followed by one of the girls who began hitting him again, knocking him to the floor, before stamping on his head.

It happened at around 9.30am on Sunday morning on Lullington Close.

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 MANCHESTER

 A black cab driver has been jailed after he sped away with a woman clinging to the window of a vehicle, leaving her with life-threatening injuries.

Karamat Ali sensed ‘trouble’ when a 22-year-old politics student stepped backwards in front of his hackney carriage after a night out drinking, so he locked the doors and refused to take her, Manchester Crown Court heard.

She then grabbed hold of the lowered front passenger side window, but the Stockport 56-year-old put his foot down and sped off. The woman was dragged 57 yards down the road before falling off and suffering a severe head injury, prosecutor Michael Morley said.

Ali left the scene and made no attempt to report the accident. Now the cabbie, of Craig Road, Heaton Mersey, has been jailed for 18 months after admitting causing serious injury by dangerous driving and failing to report an accident.

The incident only lasted around five to ten seconds, at 4.37am on September 20 last year, at Chester Street, off Oxford Road, and was witnessed by passers-by.

Umar Ali described the victim being ‘dragged along’ after the cab accelerated ‘really quickly’ while clinging to the window. Mr Ali said at one point her her legs were ‘lifted off the floor’.

Another witness, Paul Stakes, said he saw a woman shouting at the driver as she held onto the cab, and thought it was ‘some kind of student prank’ until she fell off in an ‘horrific’ way.

Following his arrest, Ali said he was aware the victim had been clinging to the vehicle, but said driving off in the way he had was routinely done by taxi drivers who didn’t want drunk fares.

Prosecutor Michael Morley said: “Whatever the state of this young lady’s inebriation, she wasn’t acting unlawfully - the responsibility lies with he who was in control of the vehicle.”

The victim, who had been a ‘high-flying’ post-graduate student, was taken to hospital in a ‘very poorly state’.

She had suffered a brain injury so severe that a piece of her skull had to be removed. She has lost her sense of smell and at one stage doctors feared paralysis.

However, although her functioning remains impaired, she has made enough of a recovery to resume studying a masters at Manchester University, the court heard.

Paul Prior, defending, said despite being disabled by childhood polio, Ali was a hardworking family man who volunteered with the homeless, had not had an accident in 25 years, and had an unblemished 12 years as a cabbie until that morning.

Describing the father-of-four as ‘profoundly sorry’, Mr Prior appealed for a community punishment, adding: “I do not suggest for a moment (the victim) had contributed to this, but it is Mr Ali’s previous bad experiences with individuals early in the morning which gave him an antennae to when people might be trouble.

"If he could turn the clock back he would. His perception was that she would let go without any difficulty, tragically she did not. He made an awful, impulsive decision.”

Sentencing, Judge Martin Rudland said he had no doubt about the situations cab drivers faced, but added that ‘no-one was criticising’ the victim’s behaviour.

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