The High Court in London has thrown out a mass lawsuit against Uber by black-cab drivers and two former private-hire firms that had sought hundreds of millions of pounds in damages.

The court on Monday dismissed the case brought by 13,300 cab drivers as well as Kabbie and Iride, two former private-hire firms, that alleged Uber provided false information to Transport for London when it first obtained a licence to operate in the capital in 2012.

The case said Uber used secretive software, including a “kill switch” that allegedly was able to lock computers during police raids.

False information

The court ruled that the case had been brought too late, falling outside the six-year limit for such claims.

The cabbies, represented by Mishcon de Reya, had sought up to £25,000 each, which the law firm said in 2024, at the time that the claim was filed, was estimated at a minimum of £250m.

The lawsuit claimed Uber operated illegally from 2012 to 2018 in that it allowed drivers to accept passenger bookings directly on their smartphones, rather than through a licensed pre-booking system, as is required for private-hire vehicles.

In London, direct bookings are reserved for black cabs.

Uber allegedly provided false information to TfL, claiming its servers accepted the bookings before passing them on to drivers, and to support this, allegedly used software called “Greyball” that showed regulators dummy app screens with nonexistent vehicles.

The company also allegedly used software called “Ripley” that acted as a so-called “kill-switch”.

Such claims can be filed outside the six-year timeframe if the plaintiff can show the defendant concealed wrongdoing, and the cabbies’ lawyers had argued Uber’s deception only became apparent during a public licensing appeal.

The judge rejected this, finding that the cabbies had enough information to bring in the claim within the time limit.

The cabbies’ initial financial backer, Harbour, withdrew its support in 2019, with another funder, RGL Management, later taking on the case.

Uber said it was pleased that the judge had dismissed the claims at the earliest opportunity, while Mishcon de Reya said the judge had rejected the claim on “in our view, a very narrow basis” and was considering grounds for an appeal.