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Soon after a bitter 18-month feud to regulate Uber in London came to an end, close to 100 charges against the ride-hailing giant for operating illegally when it first entered the city were quietly dropped, The Free Press has learned.

The move was, in part, a response to a new bylaw that made those charges something of a “moot point” in legal terms.

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But the taxi industry sees it as a free ride for Uber, and the dispute underscores the simmering tension between companies that offer rides to Londoners.

Back in April 2017 – just a few months after city council revamped the taxi bylaw to include new transportation companies like Uber – the prosecutor in the case withdrew the charges against Uber, deciding it was not “in the public interest” to continue.

“There has to be a reasonable prospect of conviction,” the city’s top lawyer, Barry Card, said, speaking generally.

The inability to win the case – or at least casting a win in doubt – could be due to any number of factors, including the strength of the evidence, witnesses, age of the charges, or the fact that Uber’s bylaw violations are now legal.