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Uber has appointed a former banking executive as its first ever United Kingdom chairman in a move aimed at pacifying the authorities after a prolonged period of back and forths.

Transport for London announced that it would not be renewing Uber's license to operate back in September and since then, the Sillicon Valley based company has been facing an uphill battle to get its 40,000 drivers back on the road.

Mayor of London Mr Sadiq Khan recently blasted Uber and claimed that instead of working closely with authorities, they were busy arming themselves with PR experts and an army of lawyers.

"Uber is transforming how people get around and as a business it is also undergoing an important period of change," she said in a statement.

With regards to her new appointment, Laurel Powers-Freeling expressed her delight and stated that she was looking forward to working with the team.

"I look forward to working with the UK business to help them manage and implement that change," she said.

Uber, valued at around $70 billion with backers including Goldman Sachs (GS.N) and BlackRock (BLK.N), hopes the newly created UK independent non-executive role will help provide knowledge and experience to its British team.

"With this new position Laurel will help us with the next phase of changes we want to make to our UK business," said Uber's UK interim general manager, Tom Elvidge.

"We're determined to learn from the mistakes of the past and make things right," he said.