As 2017 draws to a close and we look forward to some time off for festive fun before regrouping in 2018, let’s have a look back on some of the more interesting cases from the last 12 months.
Finders keepers?
2017 was not a good year for Nicole Bailey who found herself convicted of theft for pocketing a £20 note found discarded in a shop.
Uber’s nightmare year
It was also an ‘annus horribilis’ for Uber who found itself on the wrong end of a number of decisions, including both the ruling by Transport for London that it was not a ‘fit and proper’ company to hold a private hire licence in the capital and the Employment Tribunal’s decision that its drivers were entitled to employment rights that apply to ‘workers’. But earlier in the year, perhaps in a warning of things to come, Uber found itself being sued for €45 million by a Frenchman who held it responsible for the failure of his marriage.
The man had used his wife’s phone to log into his Uber account. He claimed that Uber then continued to send notifications about his movements to that phone despite him having logged out of his account. His wife was clearly not happy with the implications of the notifications she received which the husband blamed for her subsequently divorcing him.
No more aces left to play
2017 was also not a good year for bridge as it failed in its latest bid (see what we did there?) to be recognised as a sport. As we’ve reported previously, recognition would not only mean top players could claim to be international sportsmen and women, but that the English Bridge Union (EBU) could reclaim VAT on its membership fees.
After losing in the UK courts, the controversial issue was referred to the European Court of Justice as the underlying legislation, giving tax breaks to services closely linked with sports, originated from the EU VAT Directive. But the ECJ held that, no matter how vigorously cards were played or winning tricks celebrated, bridge was ‘characterised by a physical element that appeared to be negligible’ and so failed to qualify as a sport. Will Brexit give the EBU an opportunity to challenge Europe’s decision? We’ll have to wait and see.
