Taxi app firm Uber is stopping its controversial Uberpop service in the Netherlands, the company said on Wednesday.

Uberpop allows unlicenced drivers to use their own cars as taxis, but has been branded as illegal by the Dutch courts.

The company is withdrawing the service because Uberpop is a ‘hindrance to the constructive dialogue about modernising the existing taxi rules’, Uber Nederland director Niek van Leeuwen said in a blog post.

The services Uberblack, Uberlux and UberX, which involve licenced drivers, are not affected.

Uber said earlier this year it would support Uberpop drivers in getting taxi licences, but Van Leeuwen said in his post that ‘we expect many of them will not be able to do this because of the high cost of complying with all the legal obligations’.

Earlier this year, transport ministry inspectors raised the fine payable by Uber for breaking taxi sector rules to a maximum of €1m. Uberpop drivers themselves can be fined up to €4,200 and are given a criminal record.