Flanked by its Drivers, Uber Girds for a Battle in London Courts

In a TV ad currently airing in the U.K., a young woman leaves a bar alone and prepares to step into an Uber. “I know his license number and he’s made 3,000 trips and speaks four languages,” she says to the camera. “He’ll probably make me laugh and he’ll be here in one minute.”

The global ride-sharing juggernaut Uber Inc. wants the citizens of one of its largest markets to know that its service is safe for riders and lucrative for drivers. But this week, its fate will be the hands of much smaller audience: a judge at Westminster Magistrates’ ...