A decision by York City Council not to grant Uber a license in the city was met with cheers from the public gallery this week.

A committee at the City of York Council cited a number of complaints it had received about the service as well as the huge data protection breach which the company recently admitted.

The Gambling, Licensing and Regulatory Committee voted 7-3 in favour of not renewing the license and was greeted by applause and cries of “thank you” from the public gallery on Tuesday night.

Saf Din, chairman of the York Hackney Carriage Drivers Association, told the meeting Uber was “systematically abusing” the local laws and “looking for loopholes” by using out-of-town vehicles.

He said: “The trade does not object to fair competition, but Uber are not a fair player in the public transport world in the UK.”

Zoom.taxi have previously warned about loopholes which allow drivers to operate in areas where they don’t have licenses.

London transport chiefs are currently lobbying the Government to close the loophole allowing so-called “cross border hiring”.

Under current rules minicabs can pick up fares anywhere in the country so long as the vehicle, driver and operator are licensed by the same local authority.

The booking can then be accepted by the firm in that area, regardless of where the driver or their vehicle are located.

Fareed Baloch, Chief Operating Officer of Zoom.Taxi said drivers were concerned that badges were being handed out “too easily and without stringent tests which used to be a hallmark for the industry.”

Uber’s licence was due to expire in York on Christmas Eve this year, having twice previously been granted clearance to operate – most recently on 21 December 2016.

Uber also faces a licence renewal decision in Cambridge next week. The taxi app’s licences are due to expire in Britain’s second-biggest city Birmingham and Scottish capital Edinburgh in early 2018.

Last month it was revealed that Uber had been the subject of a massive data breach which affected 2.7 million UK users of its app.

Neil McGonigle, head of cities for the north of England for Uber, told councillors there were 28,000 people who regularly use the app in the city.

He said: “Over the course of the last 12 months we have seen a steady increase in the number of people looking to use the service we provide.

“From our experience, the passengers love the ability to have the convenience of pressing a button to request a car, to take a trip without having to use cash at all and, from a safety point of view, being able to track every element of that journey.

“I believe that increased choice and competition is a good thing for both passengers and drivers in terms of increasing standards across the board.”

He added the company had been “open and cooperative” with the council in tackling issues, including where drivers have applied for hire illegally.

A report provided to the meeting at the City of York said that there had been 296 complaints about hackney carriages and PHVs in the last year, of which more than fifty per cent related to Uber drivers.

Details of the specific complaints were not made public.

A City of York Council spokesperson said:

“The application by Uber Britannia Ltd to renew its private hire operator’s licence in York has been considered by City of York Council’s Gambling, Licensing and Regulatory Committee tonight.

“Applying the legislation, the committee has decided to refuse the application having concerns about a data breach currently under investigation and the number of complaints received.”

The company has 21 days to make a decision on whether to appeal the committee’s decision and can continue to operate in York until its licence expires or the appeal is heard.

Uber’s appeal against TfL’s decision not to renew its licence will be heard in the spring.