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DeliverooDeliveroo riders consider legal action following Uber ruling
A number of cycle couriers are looking to make a claim against Deliveroo following a landmark ruling against Uber last week that could have wider implications for the UK's "gig economy".
Leigh Day solicitors, who successfully brought the case, which led to a UK employment court ruling Uber drivers are employees and therefore entitled to the national living wage and holiday pay, have confirmed they are “exploring bringing a claim on behalf of Deliveroo drivers”, including those who cycle to deliver food from restaurants to customers.
Deliveroo, like Uber, uses drivers whose contracts describe them as self-employed, meaning riders may not be paid the minimum wage, and are not entitled to sick pay, holiday pay or pensions. However, the terms of those contracts, and how they describe the working relationship between rider, company and customer, differ.
Deliveroo drivers won't be forced to sign new contract
Annie Powell, a Solicitor at Leigh Day, told road.cc: “It is very early days, we haven’t issued a claim but we are exploring bringing a claim on behalf of Deliveroo drivers”.
This includes delivery cyclists, though Powell would not say how many were involved.
She said the case, if it is brought, will depend on the facts surrounding the organisation’s business model and contract.
She said: “Deliveroo doesn’t use a matching tool in the same way that Uber does. Uber provides a service and drivers work for Uber to provide that service. There was quite a lot of work to get through [to establish that].
“As far as we’re aware Deliveroo don’t claim that the Deliveroo workers have a contract with customers.”
Deliveroo faced rider strikes earlier this years over trial changes to contracts in North London, which meant riders were no longer guaranteed minimum pay for shifts. Riders were concerned this could result in them earning less than the minimum wage at less busy times of the day.
In ruling against Uber last week Judges said the company was “resorting in its documentation to fictions, twisted language and even brand new terminology” and quoted Hamlet, suggesting Uber’s UK boss was protesting too much about its position.
“The notion that Uber in London is a mosaic of 30,000 small businesses linked by a common ‘platform’ is to our minds faintly ridiculous,” the judges said. “Drivers do not and cannot negotiate with passengers … They are offered and accept trips strictly on Uber’s terms.”
Uber argued it was a technology firm and not a transport business. It is appealing the ruling, which could leave the company open to claims from its 40,000 drivers. Experts say other firms with large self-employed workforces could now face scrutiny of their working practices. MPs launched an enquiry last week into pay and working conditions in the UK, specifically those classed as self-employed and agency and casual workers.
Deliveroo was contacted for comment.
Laura Laker is a freelance journalist with more than a decade’s experience covering cycling, walking and wheeling (and other means of transport). Beginning her career with road.cc, Laura has also written for national and specialist titles of all stripes. One part of the popular Streets Ahead podcast, she sometimes appears as a talking head on TV and radio, and in real life at conferences and festivals. She is also the author of Potholes and Pavements: a Bumpy Ride on Britain’s National Cycle Network.
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15 comments
I'm a contract driver and end up moving a lot of the major supermarkets' vans around as and when their drivers wreck one and need a spare. I tend to have the direct number of the dotcom/online departments I collect from and deliver to.
On more than one occasion I've rung back in to a site to ask them to give the driver of XXX a talking to about being on the phone. Tends to work very well on sites I go to a lot.
They will probably price themselves out of a job, or price their company out of business.
That was the argument against the national minimum wage.
While this might be hard on the riders in the short-term, I'm not sure it's a bad thing overall. If we want the convenience of home-delivered food, we should pay a price that provides for decent working standards.
And making Deliveroo et al responsible for their employee behaviour on two wheels (pedal or petrol powered) would also be positive.
In amongst the chuggers on our local high street last week was a guy from Deliveroo was trying to sign up new riders - perhaps its getting harder to to fill the rotas with all their bad publicity recently
Deliveroo cyclists better hope they aren't classed as actual employees, if that were the case someone might actually do something about the abysmal way they conduct themselves on the roads.
Like Tesco/Asda/Sainsbury/Waitrose/Morrisons/Ocado/Royal Mail/UPS/Parcelforce/3663/etc drivers are held to account for their driving standards?
They should be - report it if you see it. But I've never seen anyone delivering for those companies charging along the pavement, swerving around pedestrians without lights after dark.
My neighbour had his garden wall knocked down by a supermarket delivery van right in front of his eyes. They complained but ended up giving up when the supermarket fired up the lawyers and it all got to be too much hassle.
Sounds like a straightforward case for the small claims court - but perhaps the driver denied it and there were no witnesses?
Report to who? Most police forces won't care about reports of delivery drivers close passing/driving at you/staring at phones/invading advanced stop lines/blocking cycle lanes and cycle paths. The companies don't care that much either, they'll just file it under "typical moaning cyclists" and move on.
The other day I took a photo of a delivery driver who'd parked on double yellow lines (complete with no-loading dashes).
Two minutes later a traffic warden passed and informed me I was wasting my time, because no-one would do anything about it.
You should report the traffic warden! Might not come to anything but it certainly won't if you don't.
There's been an unmarked white lorry delivering *something* (predsumably) parked on the road outside my office for the last hour. Driver went off *somewhere* leaving his lorry behind. Passenger side wheels up onto what is a pretty narrow pavement anyway, on double yellows, and blocking a cycle lane. But he has his hazard warning lights on, so that's OK.
Photos on Twitter? ASLs won't get any traction but drivers on the phone with the company logo alongside might.
Might do this week.
http://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/14833539.WARNING___Distressing_content_...