Revealed: thousands of Shenzhen drivers for car-hailing apps Uber, Didi Chuxing have criminal records, history of drug abuse

Over 3,600 drivers have been involved in traffic accidents while working for the apps

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A man uses car-hailing app Didi Kuaidi, run by Didi Chuxing, to pay the bill in Beijing in this file pic. Car-hailing apps spurred a huge backlash from taxi operators in China last year that was followed by a government crackdown. Now the public seems to have legitimate cause for concern, too. Photo: Xinhua

Published: 4:00pm, 30 Mar 2016Updated: 11:01am, 31 Mar 2016

Thousands of drivers working for popular car-hailing apps like Didi Chuxing and Uber in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen have been found to have criminal records including drug offences, sparking public concern, local authorities said this week.

The city declared the services of car-hailing apps that connect drivers of private cars with customers to be illegal last September, but authorities there have since been trying to come to terms with how the industry is changing and regulate it more thoroughly.

On Tuesday, the city’s municipal transport committee summoned executives from Uber, Chinese market leader Didi, Yongche, Zuche and ihavecar.com, the five major car-hailing apps in the country, to uncover safety problems among their operations, news website sznews.com reported.

The authorities blamed the apps for being lax gatekeepers to select qualified drivers, saying they found a total of 1,425 private drivers working for ride-sharing apps in the city with records of drug abuse. Another 1,661 were found to have criminal records for other offences, while at least one driver was a registered psychiatric patient with a history of violent behaviour in public.

The committee said that more than 3,600 of the drivers had been involved in traffic accidents while working for the apps.

Revealed: thousands of Shenzhen drivers for car-hailing apps Uber, Didi Chuxing have criminal records, history of drug abuse

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Over 3,600 drivers have been involved in traffic accidents while working for the apps

Over 3,600 drivers have been involved in traffic accidents while working for the apps