A taxi giant has delayed plans to roll out its service in Aberdeen.
Uber has had a licence to operate in the city since last year, however, the service – which uses an app to book taxis for customers – has never picked up a customer in the Granite City.
A letter obtained through freedom of information legislation shows the firm told Aberdeen City Council it was “surrendering” its licence, and would wait for a period of time before applying again.
The letter reads: “I write to inform you that we are surrendering our booking office licence due to issues with our landlord selling the property.
“Having not yet launched operations, we will wait until we are clear on doing that before applying again for a new booking office licence.”
City centre councillor Ryan Houghton was saddened by the news, and hoped the situation could be resolved in the near future.
The Tory member said: “This is clearly disappointing news – many had been expecting Uber to begin operating last year when the licence was granted.”
“Hopefully they’ll reconsider in the near future so that Aberdeen can benefit, as do many other cities across the United Kingdom.”
City centre community councillor Michael Kusznir, who stood for the Conservative Party in the European elections, was the one who uncovered the letter.
He said: “This is a lost opportunity for the Granite City which could have had another taxi operator to provide a private sector challenge to the current main providers and lower costs for consumers.
“Many visitors from other Scottish cities and tourists from abroad are amused when they hear that there is no Uber provision in Scotland’s third-biggest city.
“Its launch could have forced others to improve their customer service and supported our city’s plans to grow tourism into the city and shire.
“Hopefully we will see Uber reconsider and launch successfully in the near future.”
An Aberdeen City Council spokeswoman said: “We can confirm that Uber has surrendered the booking office licence that was granted.”
SNP councillor Alexander McLellan has said the local taxi industry will be pleased by the news.
He said: “Uber coming to Aberdeen rightly raised a number of concerns from the public – not least because of their working practices.
“Local business and taxi drivers had understandable worries too and I’m sure they will welcome this news.”
Uber did not respond to a request for comment.
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