Uber loses UK supreme court appeal over tax on private-hire rivals
Uber’s rival taxi operators will not have to pay 20% VAT on their profits outside London after a UK supreme court verdict in a long-running case.The court ruled that private-hire operators do not enter into a contract with passengers, dismissing an Uber appeal.Private-hire firms declared the verdict to be a “triumph for the sector” after a three-year legal battle, which they had said could end with fares rising sharply for passengers.Uber had brought the case after a 2021 supreme court decision that its drivers were workers, which had an impact on its tax and other obligations.The company sought a declaration that private-hire taxi operators enter into a contract with passengers and the high court in London ruled in its favour in 2023.
That decision meant that operators would have to pay VAT at 20%, but the ruling was reversed by the court of appeal in July last year after a challenge by the private hire operators Delta Taxis and the platform Veezu.Uber appealed to the supreme court, which on Tuesday unanimously dismissed the US company’s case.The Veezu chief legal officer, Nia Cooper, said: “This decision is a triumph for the UK private-hire sector.The unanimous verdict ends a three-year legal battle and confirms that operators can continue to choose which business model they adopt to run their business.”She said the outcome would protect passengers from threatened fare increases and lessen the burdens on licensing authorities.
“Uber was seeking a declaration that would have resulted in 20% VAT being charged on all PHV fares,” she said.“This ruling also shows that British-owned businesses can stand up against global giants that attempt to use litigation as a tactic to shape the sector to suit their business model.”An Uber spokesperson said: “The supreme court ruling confirms that different contractual protections apply for people booking trips in London compared to the rest of England and Wales.The ruling has no impact on Uber’s application of VAT, which has been upheld twice by other courts.”In a separate case, the Estonian ride-hailing and food-delivery startup Bolt this year defeated an appeal by the UK tax authority HMRC on what exactly it has to pay VAT on at 20%.
HMRC has since been granted permission to challenge the ruling that Bolt is only liable for VAT on its margin, rather than the full cost of the trip, at the court of appeal.
Transport secretary says ‘no evidence of malign activity’ behind UK airport disruption – business live
Transport secretary Heidi Alexander has said there is “no evidence of malign activity” behind the computer issue that caused disruption at UK airports on Wednesday.Alexander spoke this morning to Martin Rolfe, chief executive of Nats, the company tasked with running UK airspace, about the issue.She posted on X, the social network:I have spoken with @NATS CEO Martin Rolfe who provided further detail on yesterday’s technical fault. This was an isolated event and there is no evidence of malign activity.I have spoken with @NATS CEO Martin Rolfe who provided further detail on yesterday’s technical fault
Air traffic control failure an isolated incident, says UK minister after meeting
The technical failure that led to hundreds of flights being cancelled or delayed on Wednesday was an “isolated event” with “no evidence of malign activity”, the transport secretary has said, after summoning the head of the UK air traffic control service, Nats, to account for the disruption.Heidi Alexander said she met Martin Rolfe, the under-fire chief executive of Nats, to understand what happened and what could be done to prevent a reoccurrence in the future after more than 150 flights were cancelled and others delayed by the latest glitch.It is understood that Alexander did not press Rolfe to consider his position, despite fresh calls from Ryanair for him to quit.Most of the disruption from the brief stoppage came at Heathrow. A total of 84 departures and 71 arrivals were cancelled by 10pm on Wednesday, and some inbound flights were diverted to European cities
Met police to more than double use of live facial recognition
Britain’s biggest police force is to more than double its use of live facial recognition to up to 10 deployments a week.The move by the Metropolitan police comes as it restructures to cover the loss of 1,400 officers and 300 staff amid budget shortages.Live facial recognition – which involves the matching of faces caught on surveillance camera footage against a police watchlist in real time – will now be used up to 10 times a week across five days, up from the current four times a week across two days.The tactic will be deployed at the Notting Hill carnival over the August bank holiday.An older form of the technology was trialled at the event in 2016 and 2017
Zuckerberg claims ‘superintelligence is now in sight’ as Meta lavishes billions on AI
Whether it’s poaching top talent away from competitors, acquiring AI startups or proclaiming that it will build data centers the size of Manhattan, Meta has been on a spending spree to boost its artificial intelligence capabilities for months now.The massive splurge is paying off, according to Meta’s chief executive. In a new memo posted on Wednesday ahead of the company’s quarterly earnings report, Mark Zuckerberg, describes his ambitions for developing what he calls “superintelligence”.“Over the last few months we have begun to see glimpses of our AI systems improving themselves,” Zuckerberg wrote. “The improvement is slow for now, but undeniable
England v India: fifth men’s cricket Test, day one – live
It’s properly thundering down at the Oval. I reckon we’re on for a pretty significant delay.23rd over: India 72-2 (Sudharsan 25, Gill 15) Gill has looked untroubled so far, while Overton closes his over with hands on hips, still not happy with how he’s landing at the crease. And then, out of nowhere, it starts pouring! Time for a break and early lunch.22nd over: India 68-2 (Sudharsan 25, Gill 11) Sudharsan has done a lot of hard work and he advances into the twenties with a lovely straight drive off Woakes for four
Tour de France Femmes 2025: race heads into the mountains on stage six – live
Stage six of the Tour de France Femmes 2025 is under way. The peloton have rolled out from Clermont-Ferrand. There’s a 9.7 km neutralised section before the racing begins.Here is the route profile of stage six:This article includes content provided by Instagram
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