POPULAR but controversial cab firm Uber has submitted a bid to operate in Bournemouth.

The international firm was earlier this month granted licences to operate in both Christchurch and Poole.

There has been speculation about Uber coming to Bournemouth for several months. Late last year a spokesman for the firm said: "It is no secret that we would like to be in every town and city in the country.

"We would love to come to Bournemouth and we are certainly not ruling it out."

Uber has now made an application for a licence to operate in the town, and it is being considered by officers.

Licensing board chairman Andrew Morgan said a previous hearing had been deferred as the bid needed "more work", but he expected it to come before councillors "if not in July or August, by very early September".

Cllr Morgan said the board would scrutinise the proposal carefully.

Uber allows users to book a private hire cab quickly using a smartphone app, and has set up in 450 towns and cities around the world.

The firm has courted controversy, accused in some parts of the world of undercutting established taxi services with low prices and unlicensed drivers.

Unsurprisingly, Uber's arrival in a town has tended to upset established taxi firms.

Bournemouth's licensing board recently altered its rules to allow cabs to display advertisements on the back of seat headrests.

The previous rules banned any advertising visible through the windows.

Derek Heritage, head of United Taxis, made the application saying the firm wished to advertise its own mobile app service.

"The reason we are doing this is because of the threat of other app-based companies coming into the town or around the town, and we need to promote app usage," he said.

He said the firm would get applications from "bars and clubs" to use the advertising space but would decline as "if I did say yes, I know you would decline that".

Under the new rules taxis will be able to apply to licensing to display ads on the back of seat headrests.