From the point of view of Uber, a service that summons cars and drivers over the Internet, maybe the fines imposed on the company by governments are a relatively cheap marketing expense instead of a nuisance. Yesterday, we shared that Germany has banned the company yet again. Authorities in the Netherlands have imposed a fine of $107,000 on the company for violating the laws that regulate taxis.

Yet the company’s UberPop service, where ordinary citizens pay to drive each other around, still operates in the Netherlands while the company appeals that fine. One driver told a radio reporter that he was attacked by a mysterious group of masked anti-Uber vigilantes. Taxis and regular cars blocked his vehicle in and confronted him, and he even recalls feeling brass knuckles pressed into his neck.
Police say that another driver reported being blocked in while on the job as well, but neither driver was physically harmed. One can’t blame them for wanting to quit driving for the company, though, which is exactly the point.

It sounds outlandish, but this wouldn’t be the first incident of anti-Uber, pro-taxi driver violence in Europe since the company expanded there. Taxi drivers blocked off traffic to protest Uber last summer, and there were also slashed tires and broken windows in Paris last year that were blamed on drivers of traditional taxis.

Masked Men Ambushing Uber Driver Elevates Clash in Amsterdam [Bloomberg]

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