Uber delivers 15,000 emails with horse and cart in Australian protest

It's been a rocky ride for Uber in the Australian state of Queensland.

The ride-sharing service has been set back by a raft of new regulations by the state's government, and now it's hitting back with a slow, old piece of transportation and some printed sheets of paper.

Horse and cart was the method of delivery for 15,000 printed emails from Uber's customers to Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk on Tuesday. Yes, a horse and cart. 

The emails were from really mad Queenslanders who just want to be able to Uber around town, but the state government is trying to stop them. 

"Recently, more than 15,000 people emailed members of parliament to voice their support for ridesharing," Uber Queensland's General Manager Sam Bool said in a statement emailed to Mashable Australia.

"Unfortunately, thousands of these emails were deliberately blocked by the parliament and were not received. To ensure the voices of those that want ridesharing in Queensland will still be heard, today we hand delivered these emails to the premier's office."

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A bill cracking down on ride-sharing services was passed on Apr. 20, with fines of A$2,356 for Uber drivers who are caught, with administrators of illegal taxi services penalised up to A$23,560, according to the ABC. 

Uber created a form ahead of the vote on the bill for Queensland customers to voice their concerns via email to members of parliament. In the days after, emails from the form began to bounce back. The parliament's speaker, Peter Wellington, confirmed to the Brisbane Times that it was as deliberate decision to automatically block these emails.

"Whether these emails were, in fact, being generated by individuals or individuals utilising some sort of feeder system, or simply being auto generated and were a type of email bomb or blast, one result of these emails was to compromise the Parliamentary Service's email system and members' ability to communicate," Wellington said.

"In these circumstances the Clerk took the decision to auto block these emails to prevent the overload of our members' email accounts," Wellington added.

Bool said in the statement that the blocking of emails is hypocritical, citing the government's recent conference on innovation.

"It's curious that a government, who only last week held a conference on innovation, would block the technology that allowed them to hear from their constituents. We'll be interested to see whether the people who wrote to their premier will receive a response in the mail or through updated, modern regulations that recognise their right to choose how they get around," Bool said.

We'll bet that the blocking of 15,000 physical letters is no easy feat, however.

UPDATE: May 3, 2016, 4:05 p.m. AEST The email form sent by Uber had been sent prior to the vote on the bill, not after as originally stated.

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