WRONG!.. in the case of Scotland certainly.
all drivers of vehicles licensed to carry passengers on a commercial basis must be licensed themselves.
Then the cars have to undergo safety checks and emissions tests and once the vehicle is licensed it must be appropriately insured with appropriate passenger liability insurance.
Otherwise it's 100% illegal for people to charge fares for taking people anywhere commercially. plain and simple as that.
In the case of Taxi drivers with a "Black cab license"(those who drive the classic London cabs) ... then those guys have to STUDY for a minimum of two years and sit an exam called "the knowledge" to show that they know well the geography of the area. And their vehicles taxi license plates, in Edinburgh anyway, SELL FOR A FUCKING FORTUNE.....
The thing with Uber is that it is setting rates that are NOT set by the local councils Taxi licensing board. In Scotland each city council/local authority sets the rates for both black taxis and private hire cars such as Uber would be legally classified. Thus they are undercutting in a way that other companies would be legally disallowed from doing as the rates are set firm by the councils so as to avoid customers being humped.
So as you an see, at least here in Scotland, and possibly in england,Waqles and northern Ireland too.... Uber would have to recruit drivers who were already licensed with licensed vehicles , start it's own fleet and get drivers in to drive them or... operate illegally and get humped in various courts and jurisdictions around the "UK"