I don&#x27;t know about the rest of Europe but in Scotland the taxis are definitely in the hands of gangsters. The drivers will tell you as much. I&#x27;m not sure what the reason is but I&#x27;m guessing it&#x27;s because it&#x27;s a cash-in-hand business that would be easy to use for money laundering.<p>Here&#x27;s some real problems which Uber addresses:<p>- taxi services being run by organised crime<p>- taxis wasting fuel driving about looking for fares<p>- massive shortage of taxis on a Saturday night in the city centre<p>- having to wait on the street in a queue for a taxi rank, probably in the rain, in a crowd of drunk people<p>- people getting mugged&#x2F;assaulted because they had to walk home because they couldn&#x27;t get a taxi<p>- being totally surrounded by cars but unable still being unable to get from Point A to Point B<p>- owning a car and a drivers licence, being unemployed, and not being able to put your skills and capital goods to use<p>- taxi drivers not knowing how to get to your destination<p>- not being able to get a taxi because you don&#x27;t have cash<p>- not knowing when your taxi is going to arrive<p>- not having any log of the fact you ordered and got into a taxi, in case no one ever hears from you again<p>Ironically in ex-communist Russia, they don&#x27;t really have these problems because people apparently just flag down <i>any</i> car on the road and hitch a ride, probably for a little cash.