Hong Kong Uber drivers will face criminal trial after defence case flops
Lawyers for five Uber drivers who were planning to argue that they had a constitutional defence conceded that in light of a new Court of Appeal judgment, which dealt with the same issue, their case would fail
Hong Kong Uber drivers facing criminal charges will stand trial after failing to raise a constitutional defence that people should be given the freedom to choose their jobs.
Lawyers for the drivers conceded their argument was doomed to fail at Kowloon City Court on Tuesday in light of a separate judgment handed down by the Court of Appeal concerning a barrister who challenged his professional body for refusing to let him work a second job as a “body figuring practitioner”.
The failure to succeed on human rights grounds at the pre-trial hearings means that five drivers will be tried on November 30, the city’s first, joining a string of litigations the ride-hailing company is currently facing around the world. Another driver pleaded guilty without a trial earlier.
Chan Kin-fung, Chan Tsz-lun, Lau Kwan-wing, Sunny Leung Hoi-shun, and Luk Chun-pong, aged between 29 and 53, each deny one count of driving a vehicle for hire without a permit and one count of using a vehicle without third-party insurance between August 11 and 12 last year.
Earlier, lawyers for the five Uber drivers contended that Article 33 of the Basic Law guaranteed freedom of occupation, in that it should be construed as people were allowed to choose their professions.