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Uber employing murderers, sex offenders

Uber’s self-promoted driver vetting procedure has been damaged by the news that a murderer drove for the company in the US.

The driver in question served 26 years in a San Francisco prison for murder, before being released on bail in 2008.

It is claimed that the driver joined Uber under a fake name in 2014. He gave 1,168 Uber rides before being found out.

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The revelation came as part of a San Francisco district attorney’s office complaint, that alleged 25 drivers with criminal records had been allowed to drive using the service.

The background check of another driver failed to find that they had a conviction for “committing lewd or lascivious acts against a child under 14”.

He gave over 6,000 rides, including to unaccompanied minors, it was reported.

Another had been convicted of kidnapping for ransom with a firearm and selling cocaine, plus drink driving.

The other drivers had lesser offences.

According to reports, Uber said its background checking system was industry leading.

However the San Francisco District Attorney said: “A lot of the information that Uber has presented to consumers has been false and misleading.”

San Francisco wants Uber to use a fingerprint system to vet drivers, something they are resisting, according to Sky News.

In a statement, Uber said: “While we agree with the district attorneys that safety is a priority, we disagree that the Livescan (fingerprint) process used by taxi companies is an inherently better system for screening drivers than our background checks.

“The reality is that neither is 100 per cent foolproof – as we discovered last year when putting hundreds of people through our checks who identified themselves as taxi drivers.”

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