Uber and executives fined in France over taxi practices

A French court has convicted Uber and two of its executives of deceptive commercial practices and illegal business activity over its low-cost ride service.

The court fined the company €800,000 and fined regional Uber executive Pierre-Dimitry Gore-Coty €30,000, and Uber's France general manager Thibaud Simphal €20,000. Half of all the fines were suspended.

The court did not hand prison terms, and rejected a prosecutor's request that the two executives be barred from running any company for five years.

And the fines were much lower than the €100m that traditional taxi services had sought.

They accused the low-cost UberPop service of unfair competition because it uses non-professional drivers.

UberPop is now banned in France but Uber still operates a service with professional drivers.