CONTROVERSIAL cab company Uber has withdrawn its application for a licence to operate in Bournemouth.

Councillors were due to consider the request at a meeting of the Licensing Board on September 12.

But the Daily Echo has since learned that Uber does not wish to proceed at this stage.

The company already has licences to operate in Poole, Southampton and Portsmouth.

It uses an app with GPS mapping and a cashless pay system but has been criticised in the past.

In some areas it has been accused of under-cutting established taxi services with low prices and unlicensed drivers.

Its Poole licence was granted by a council officer under delegated powers, attracting criticism from some councillors.

Cllr Phil Eades said: "We don’t know if their drivers are properly licensed, we don’t know if they’ve had criminal records checks and we don’t know if they can even speak English.

"We don’t know if the drivers driving for Uber are checked in the same way Borough of Poole licensed taxi drivers are.

"The whole point about the taxi licensing system is that it is supposed to offer protection to residents using taxis. I’m afraid if anyone can just rock up with a smart phone in their car and portray themselves as a taxi driver, then that worries me."

But Fred Jones, general manager, Uber said: "Uber abides by the same rules and regulations as all other private hire operators.

"The drivers that use the Uber app are fully licensed private hire drivers and have been through the same Enhanced DBS background check as taxi drivers and care workers."

Speaking about the Bournemouth application, a spokesman for Uber said: "We have paused the process as there was a bit of confusion with regards to the application process. We're still in conversations with the council and hope to pick this up again in the near future."