Uber will not be granted a new licence to operate in London, Transport for London (TfL) has said.
According to BBC, the regulator said the taxi app was not “fit and proper” as a licence holder, despite having made a number of positive changes to its operations.
It adds that Uber originally lost its licence in 2017 due to safety concerns, but was granted a 15-month extension.
BBC reports that Uber now has 21 days to appeal against TfL's decision and can continue to operate during that period.
It had received an additional two-month extension in September which expired on Sunday.
Uber has faced resistance from regulators and traditional taxi services in a range of countries after being dogged by controversy for a number of years.
According to the report, Helen Chapman, director of licensing, regulation and charging at TfL, said: “As the regulator of private hire services in London, we are required to make a decision today on whether Uber is fit and proper to hold a licence. Safety is our absolute top priority.
“While we recognise Uber has made improvements, it is unacceptable that Uber has allowed passengers to get into minicabs with drivers who are potentially unlicensed and uninsured.
“It is clearly concerning that these issues arose, but it is also concerning that we cannot be confident that similar issues won't happen again in future.
"If they choose to appeal, Uber will have the opportunity to publicly demonstrate to a magistrate whether it has put in place sufficient measures to ensure potential safety risks to passengers are eliminated.
"If they do appeal, Uber can continue to operate and we will closely scrutinise the company to ensure the management has robust controls in place to ensure safety is not compromised during any changes to the app."
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