Uber appoints former Bank of England senior adviser as non-executive UK chair

Laurel Powers-Freeling, who will take up the newly-created position, is currently senior independent director at online lender Atom Bank

'I look forward to working with the UK business to help them manage and implement that change,' said Ms Powers-Freeling (Getty)

Uber has appointed a former senior adviser to the Bank of England as non-executive chair in the UK, as it endeavours to clean up its image and “make things right” after Transport for London last month revoked the ride hailing company’s licence to operate in the city.

Laurel Powers-Freeling, who will take up the newly created position, is currently senior independent director at online lender Atom Bank.

In addition to having advised the Bank of England, she’s worked for Marks & Spencer, where she was chief executive of M&S Money, and has chaired the National Joint Registry on behalf of the UK Department of Health.

“Uber is transforming how people get around and as a business it is also undergoing an important period of change,” she said in a statement on Friday. “I look forward to working with the UK business to help them manage and implement that change.”

The ride-hailing company, which serves more than 50,000 licensed drivers and almost 5 million customers across the UK, has endured a turbulent journey in recent months and her appointment comes as a critical time.

In September, TfL determined that Uber was not “fit and proper to hold a private hire operator licence", dealing a sharp blow to the company by accusing it of demonstrating a “lack of corporate responsibility in relation to a number of issues which have potential public safety and security implications”.

Uber’s northern European manager Jo Bertram, who had responsibility for Britain among other countries, left the company shortly after the decision.

Since then, Uber has vowed to make sweeping changes in London, which is one of its most important international markets, and work with the transport regulator to enhance its standards.

Dara Khosrowshahi, joined the company from Expedia as chief executive over the summer replacing founder Travis Kananick, has held discussions with TfL, and Uber officially appealed the decision earlier in October.

A first hearing is likely to happen on 11 December but a person with knowledge of the matter told The Independent at the time that the whole process could take several months and “perhaps longer”, during which time Uber would be allowed to continue operating.

Tom Elvidge, interim general manager of Uber in the UK, said that Ms Powers-Freeling will help the company “with the next phase of changes” to the UK business.

“As our new global CEO has said, we’re determined to learn from the mistakes of the past and make things right.”

Ms Powers-Freeling is a graduate of Columbia University and MIT. She began her career as a management consultant at McKinsey & Company. She moved to London in 1987.