Uber, the taxi hailing app, faces a Chinese New Year crackdown on drivers in Beijing who are operating illegally. With constant negative headlines Uber faces yet another challenge to what is perceived to be a disruption to city transportation. The director of Beijings traffic enforcement unit, Liang Jiangwei, advised in a statement to the Financial Times in London “that the use of unlicenced taxis by Internet hailing apps violated a ban on illegal taxis” as reported. Indeed he also advised that “taxi clones” are operating and customers have filed complaints.

The FT reported that this has all been motioned by lobbying from the original taxi groups who have no control over the rates set by the state, much like London Black Taxis.

Several Internet groups including Alibaba are investors in private car service apps of which one is Kuadi Dache and could be affected by the action.

The list of legal challenges continue to grow for the San Francisco based company who recently had a huge external investment boost and also backing from Baidu, the Internet search engine based in Beijing after Uber started trading there in 2014.

Back in London the battle continues over cheap PCO insurance, cheap minicab insurance and cheap taxi insurance as rates fluctuate. The ability to compare taxi insurance effectively also seems to frustrate the taxi insurance market.