Half a million people want Uber to stay in London - but not everyone agrees with them

More than half a million Uber fans have signed a petition to reinstate the company’s London licence – but some outspoken individuals think Transport for London (TfL) has made the right call.

Katie Hopkins, Piers Morgan and Caitlin Moran are just three of the celebs that have waded into the debate on whether Uber should have had its licence revoked– and none of them are happy with the taxi-hailing app.

TfL controversially revoked Uber’s licence in the capital yesterday (Friday) – a move that will come into effect on October 1, the day after its current licence expires.

Uber immediately fought back, launching a Change.org campaign called ‘Save Your Uber in London’.

It said: “By wanting to ban our app from the capital, Transport for London and their chairman the Mayor have given in to a small number of people who want to restrict consumer choice.

“If this decision stands, it will put more than 40,000 licensed drivers out of work and deprive millions of Londoners of a convenient and affordable form of transport.”

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It concluded: “This decision is affecting the real lives of a huge number of honest and hard-working drivers in London.”

An estimated 3.5 million Londoners use Uber, and many of them have already signed the hugely popular online petition, which Kajal Odedra, UK director at Change.org has described it as “the fastest growing petition we’ve seen in the UK this year”.

Mayor Sadiq Khan said in a statement: “It would be simply wrong for TfL to continue to license Uber if there was any way this could pose a threat to Londoners’ safety or security.

“TfL has said it believes Uber’s conduct demonstrates a lack of corporate responsibility around a number of issues that have potential public safety and security implications.

“These include Uber’s approach to reporting serious criminal offences, and the way it obtains medical certificates and security checks (Enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service) for their drivers.”

He added that Uber can continue to operate until its current licence expires at the end of September, and from then “until the appeals process has been exhausted”.

Not everyone is against TfL’s decision, however.

Ian Jacobsen accused Uber of “exploiting sub-minimum wage drivers with crap cars”:

Writer Caitlin Moran also slammed the app for “screwing over its workers and ignoring regulation”:

Kelly Cates said Uber had to play fair if they wanted to carry on operating within the capital:

Journalist Owen Jones agreed, calling on Uber to address its issues instead of appealing TfL’s decision:

Katie Hopkins noted on Twitter: “All black cabs wanted was a level playing field. The market can only be free if everyone operates by the same rules.”

Piers Morgan agreed, saying this was a “very good day for London’s Black Cab community.”