Uber hit by $7.3m fine and possible suspension in California

A court in California has slapped a $7.3m (£4.6m, €6.6m) fine on taxi-app firm Uber for not disclosing enough information about its operations to regulators, besides recommending suspension of its operations across the state.

The ruling, by an administrative law judge of the California Public Utilities Commission, came as a result of the company withholding data on the number of requests for rides from people with disabilities, causes of accidents and places where drivers tend to turn down ride requests, the Associated Press news agency reported.

The judge held that failure to disclose the information violated state laws passed in 2013 that allowed firms such as Uber to operate.

The news is the latest blow to San Francisco-based Uber, which is fighting numerous legal battles with governments around the world over its business practices.

A spokeswoman for the ride-sharing giant called the ruling "deeply disappointing" and said the company would appeal the decision.

"We will appeal the decision as Uber has already provided substantial amounts of data to the California Public Utilities Commission, information we have provided elsewhere with no complaints," spokeswoman Eva Behrend was quoted as saying.

Juan Matute, associate director of the Lewis Centre and the Institute of Transportation Studies at the University of California in Los Angeles, said the fine was "not that significant" to the firm, which is valued at an estimated $50bn.

"The $7.3m fine and the data they are asking to provide is not that significant in the grand scheme of things," he told the Los Angeles Times.

"This would seem like a small consolation to improve their chance of success with other regulatory issues that could have a bigger impact on them."

Uber's app allows consumers with smartphones to submit ride requests which are serviced by drivers in the area who use their own cars.

The company, which is backed by the likes of Google and Goldman Sachs, has faced protests from taxi companies the world over for its use of crowd-sourced drivers, some allegedly unlicensed.