Uber has been banned. But you'd be forgiven for not noticing.

Despite the fact that the app was told it can't operate in London, it's still more than possible to open it up and use it to call a car. There is no disruption to either the technology or the drivers, and journeys are just as readily available.

That's because despite the huge amount of coverage of the ban it hasn't really gone into effect. What's more, it might never, despite authorities' decision that the company is "not fit and proper" for a number of reasons.

Uber controversies Show all 4 1 /4 Uber controversies Uber controversies June 2017 Travis Kalanick resigned from his position as CEO of Uber in July of this year, after a tumultous period for the company. A sexist workplace culture was exposed by a damning internal report, leading to heightened pressure on the CEO and consequently to him taking a leave of absence in June. A week later he was forced to resign after losing the confidence of the board of investors AFP/Getty Uber controversies June 2017 Indian police escort Uber taxi driver and convicted rapist Shiv Kumar Yadav following his court appearance in New Delhi on 8 December, 2014. An Uber executive, Eric Alexander, was fired in June of this year after reportedly obtaining the records of the rapist's victim, with the intent to cast doubt on her account of the incident. She later sued the company for defamation and violating her privacy rights Chandan Khanna/AFP Uber controversies May 2017 The company were ordered to pay up to $45 million dollars back to New York based drivers, after taking too much in commission over a two and a half year period. “We made a mistake and we are committed to making it right by paying every driver every penny they are owed, plus interest, as quickly as possible,” said Rachel Holt, Uber’s regional general manager in the US and Canada, to the Wall Street Journal Getty Uber controversies December 2016 Uber's self-driving cars were ordered to be removed from the roads by a Californian car regulator, after being spotted skipping traffic lights. Uber insist that the incidents were "human error" rather than a design flaw. The New York Times later refuted this in an article claiming the autonomous technology had in fact failed Youtube/KTVU

The app was supposed to be banned from 30 September, according to a ruling from Transport for London. And it technically has.

But that ban doesn't practically go into effect until Uber has exhausted all of its appeal with the regulator. That process might not finish for months – and it could end with Uber successfully having the decision overturned, meaning that the app would never go out of service.

It's not clear what would happen if Uber did opt to pull out of London. It would presumably mean that the app would look like it does in cities where it doesn't yet operate, and that people would be unable to see or hail cars.

That won't happen until the appeals process is exhausted, TfL said when it announced the app was banned. Reports have suggested that process could last as long as 12 months, and Uber has had success overturning such decisions before.

The company has now appealed the decision, and appears to be spending a huge amount of resource on both PR and legal challenges to try and have it overturned. It sent its CEO to London, for instance, where he met with drivers in a marketing exercise apparently focused on improving the app's reputation.

And that reputation does appear to have been undermined. Despite hundreds of thousands of people signing a petition, a majority of people back the banning of the app, according to YouGov data.