A damning report has found Uber systematically failed to notify the industry regulator about serious incidents.Credit:AP
In all,the commissioner fined Uber a record $203,500 for 37 of the most serious breaches uncovered in the year-long audit that started in 2020 and was quietly revealed last week. Of those,a third related to “inappropriate behaviour” that was reported to police but unintentionally not disclosed to the commission.
Commissioner Anthony Wing said the audit initially uncovered Uber had not reported a number of “notifiable occurrences” as legally required. That term includes things such as complaints to police about alleged sexual assaults or other violence,accidents requiring hospitalisation,and drivers charged with major traffic offences.
Uber then did its own audit and found 524 additional customer reports that it should have passed on in an 18-month period.
An Uber spokeswoman said the company prioritised safety and “the overwhelming majority of these reports related to minor matters,such as minor collisions” and any person involved in a serious report has their account access immediately removed while the company investigated.
“While only a small number of these notifiable incidents were with regard to sexual misconduct - we want to make it clear that we take all allegations of sexual misconduct extremely seriously and work to take action quickly and fairly,” the spokeswoman said.
Mr Wing said there was no suggestion the failings documented in his report were deliberate,praised Uber for co-operating with the audit and noted most drivers did the right thing.
However,Mr Wing said a loophole allowed some Uber drivers to clock shifts extending past the maximum of 12 hours,which risked accidents.