Uber: We do our own background checks

City of Columbia leaders are frustrated with the lack of cooperation with Uber, a ride-sharing service.

Assistant City Manager Tony St. Romaine said he wished Uber would have their drivers turn off their Uber apps until February.

He said by then the city should have something worked out so the company can operate the car service legally, just like other companies.

ABC 17 on Monday learned the names and reasons why four Uber drivers were ticketed on Friday.

“I hope that message was heard loud and clear this weekend and we don’t have to do that again,” said St. Romaine.

The Uber driver we spoke to was not ticketed, but is concerned about the warning.

“Yeah, yeah I am. I didn’t get a chance to drive this weekend, I guess that kind of worked out for the best, but um it’s yeah definitely a concern,” said the Columbia Uber driver.

Uber told ABC 17 each driver is screened through its own system, but St. Romaine explains why he has an issue with this.

“We have no way of verifying that background check or vehicle check has been done,” said St. Romaine.

An Uber driver said he was, in fact, background checked by Uber.

An Uber spokeswoman said they have a 3-step screening of all drivers, ranging from sex offenders registry to county courthouse records.

The criteria goes back 7 years and a potential Uber driver can’t have had convictions of gun related offenses, reckless driving, or DWI.