Uber suspends low-cost service in France amid legal pressure

July 3, 2015 at 6:10 a.m. | Updated July 3, 2015 at 6:15 a.m.

by Associated Press

FILE - This Thursday, June 25, 2015 file photo shows a striking taxi driver holding a placard which read, "Stop Uber, Stop listening," referring to the new US spying report in France, during a taxi drivers demonstration in Paris, France. French authorities took two Uber managers into custody for questioning on Monday over "illicit activity" involving its low-cost service. The detentions came amid rising tensions between the government and the ride-hailing company, which culminated last week in a violence-marred taxi strike that blocked roads around the country. (AP Photo/Michel Euler, File)
FILE - This Thursday, June 25, 2015 file photo shows a striking taxi driver holding a placard which read, "Stop Uber, Stop listening," referring to the new US spying report in France, during a taxi drivers demonstration in Paris, France. French authorities took two Uber managers into custody for questioning on Monday over "illicit activity" involving its low-cost service. The detentions came amid rising tensions between the government and the ride-hailing company, which culminated last week in a violence-marred taxi strike that blocked roads around the country. (AP Photo/Michel Euler, File)

PARIS (AP) - Uber has suspended its low-cost ride-hailing service in France in hopes of defusing an escalating legal dispute and sometimes-violent tensions with traditional French taxi drivers.

An Uber spokesman said Friday the low-cost service, in France called UberPop, is being suspended. UberPop links users to drivers without professional taxi or chauffeur licenses. French authorities had ordered it shut down, but Uber refused, pending a legal decision at a top French court.

Uber France chief Thibaud Simphaud in an interview in Le Monde that Uber changed its mind "in a spirit of bringing peace" with authorities.

Simphaud and another European manager for San Francisco-based Uber were detained this week and ordered to stand trial to face charges including "deceptive commercial practices" and complicity in illegal activities.

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