Taxi companies in France fighting for their livelihoods against Uber just gained a small, but significant victory over the dominant ride-hailing service.
On Wednesday, a Paris court mandated that Uber pays a $1.3 million fine to a French taxi union for violating a French transport law, as reported by the Wall Street Journal.
While the amount doesn't exactly rock Uber and what it's doing, the fine does mark a setback for the company in France, where taxi drivers continue their strike against ride-hailing apps for the second consecutive day.
Paris also happens to be the place that taxi drivers have been as vocal — if not the most-outspoken — against Uber worldwide, so this is significant.
Uber told the Journal that the Paris court ordered it to pay the fine due to the company's failure to give its drivers orders that they must return to garages between each fare — a mandated action under the updated 2014 transport law.
This comes after Uber originally appealed that returning-to-garage stipulation of the regulation, but lost that appeal last spring.
That being said, Uber still plans on appealing the $1.3 million fine, while trying to get the European Union to reject the French transport law, altogether, as reported by the Journal.
This marks only the latest of legal entanglement that is engulfing Uber in France, as taxi unions are desperately trying to hold onto whatever is left of their dwindling market share since the ride-hailing juggernaut took over the scene and continues to gain customers.
