Taxi Driver Online

Taxi driver protest highlights safety concerns

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cx280nq7550o



Private hire drivers in the West Midlands have staged a protest in Wolverhampton because they say more needs to be done to protect their safety.

The Private Hire Drivers Alliance (PHDA) organised the rally in St Peter's Square to raise awareness, particularly since rioting and disorder broke out across the country earlier this month.

At a recent meeting with West Midlands Police, some drivers said they would avoid certain areas, with one stating a passenger had pulled a knife out on him.

The force said it would investigate all reported crimes where people were targeted just because of who they were.

Saj Ahmed, from Birmingham, represents fellow private hire drivers and addressed police at the meeting.

He said drivers were uneasy, but they also had issues with operators over low pay and conditions.

"Since the issue with the riots up and down the country, I think a lot of drivers, most of them, including myself, we're still being very very careful as to which areas we would go into," he said.

"It's just not fair or justified to travel into these areas with a high risk over a few quid and that's another issue we want to improve - the exploitation and the pay that the drivers get as well.

"I would say there are no-go areas because I would not go to those areas."

He said drivers had heard of several incidents occurring on the outskirts of Chelmsley Wood with cars being hit with bricks and stones from a bridge.

Drivers want operators like Uber and Bolt to do more vetting of passengers and take more seriously those with low ratings, he said.

"We should be able to make a decent living with the confidence that authorities, licences and the police are on their guard watching out for us," he said.

A recent meeting with the City of Wolverhampton Council was positive, he said, but the group wanted the local authority to cap the number of drivers, because the market was "so saturated".

One driver who wanted to be referred to only as Peter said he had previously been punched by a passenger and felt safety was deteriorating.

He said the trade was not respected by councils, app operators and police, and was in favour of lower-rated passengers being removed from apps.

"App operators don't care how abusive passengers are... if they have a regular low rating they should be removed from apps... the council and the app operators have an obligation to protect us."

In a statement, the City of Wolverhampton Council said the protest related to pay, recruitment and safer working conditions.

“These are controlled by private hire operators and government legislation and not by the council - we have made them aware the council has no powers to address any of the demands being made."

An Uber spokesperson said all drivers were guaranteed benefits including holiday pay and the minimum wage set by the government, known as the National Living Wage.

It said the safety of drivers was a top priority and a dedicated safety team investigated complaints, while customers using the app commit to its Community Guidelines and "any rider who violates these could lose access to the platform".

Fellow operator Bolt said it allowed drivers to set their own minimum prices, and they review their prices to ensure that they balance the earning needs of drivers with affordability for passengers.

In regards to safety, it said it had regular engagement with drivers and had held a recent roundtable event with drivers, councils, transport bodies, and unions.

If a driver gives a passenger a one-star rating, Bolt said it ensured the driver did not receive any further trip requests from that account and appropriate action was taken against consistently poor passenger behaviour.

West Midlands Police added: "Policing takes all reports of hate crime seriously, because we know that they have a devastating impact on not only individual victims but also targeted communities."

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IDFIMH

If that's the case why do we often see stories on here of drivers protesting against uber over pay and conditions ?

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lack of modern legislation is the iceberg sinking the titanic of the transport sector

Because they are only guaranteed those earnings whilst they have a passenger on board. They don't get anything for waiting around or travelling back empty. The same as most self employed drivers.

What about employees, are uber drivers not employed?

Only when they have a customer on board at a guess.

Basically because Uber now takes a far greater % than they once did.

They say it's the only way they can make money, as they now have to pay VAT, drivers' holidays, and sickness benefits.

_________________
IDFIMH

Uber drivers are not employees who are employed.

Traditionally there were two situations regarding what's called 'employment status' (yes, like taxis, HCs etc, the terminology is confusing )

So you could either be:

1. Self-employed (also called independent contractor or freelance etc).

2. Employee, or someone who is employed. So that would mean PAYE taxation, and employment rights such as minimum wage and paid holidays, unfair dismissal rights etc.

Obviously most people in the trade would traditionally been regarded as coming under category 1 - self-employed.

But a couple of decades ago (or so) a middle option was introduced, which is 'worker' status. So not quite self-employed, but not an employee either, because worker status doesn't confer all the rights an employee has

And it was 'worker' status that the Supreme Court said should apply to Uber drivers - so they're not self-employed, but not full-blown employees either.

And those with worker status are probably best regarded as nearer to self-employed than employees who are on PAYE, because HMRC still uses the old two categories, so even if Uber drivers have worker status and a few more rights than self-employed drivers, HMRC still regards them as self-employed for tax administration purposes, so they pay tax via self-assessment rather than PAYE.

For what it's worth, this is the Express & Star version, which has a slightly different slant. And a lot of waffle from the reps

Funny thing, though, although it's in Wolves and seems mostly about Wolves Council, the cross-border angle isn't mentioned at all, which is surely critical to understanding it all...

Links to some high-res photos at the end, but they're not particularly interesting...


Taxi drivers hold protest in Wolverhampton over pay, safety and licensing regulations

https://www.expressandstar.com/news/loc ... licensing/

Private hire taxi drivers from across the region came together in solidarity to ask for their rights to be heard.

The drivers, who came from as far as Birmingham, took part in a peaceful demonstration outside Wolverhampton Civic Centre on Wednesday which related to pay, recruitment and safer working conditions.

Organised by the Private Hire Drivers Alliance (PHDA), the event followed on from recent demonstrations held outside private hire operators’ offices in Birmingham and saw around 30 people gather to listen to speeches from members of the PHDA, before carrying a petition into the Civic Centre.

It was a day for those in the Alliance to talk about the issues they faced, from feeling exploited by companies such as Uber and Bolt to safety concerns and feeling like the licensing authorities at the different Black Country councils aren't listening to what they are saying and aren't responsible for the issues they are facing.

PHDA chairman Minhaj Uddin was one of the speakers at the demonstration and spoke about wanting to get a sense of unity with all the drivers and more protection for drivers.
He said: "We're inviting all the councils to do more to protect the drivers from exploitation because there are giant operators like Uber and Veezu who I feel are exploiting drivers in an industry which is unregulated.

"They need to do more, rather than distancing themselves from the real issues, and we want them to do more to help the drivers and the previous protests have had an impact as the councils have started to show a kind of support."

PHDA general secretary Saj Amed said that companies like Bolt and Uber had heard about the protests, but said he felt they didn't want to engage with the drivers and felt they were being left short-changed.

He said: "I feel they clearly don't care about the drivers and they will say that they are paying the drivers minimum wage and they get holiday pay, but this is a lifestyle choice that I chose, leaving a corporate environment to work in this industry, and I didn't come here to earn minimum wage.

"If I wanted to do that, I'd go and pick some tins of beans in Asda, so we are here to make some money and while Bolt have introduced holiday pay, they've done it in a way so that the holiday pay is incorporated into the existing fares, so they've lowered the fares rather that increasing them.

"From a council's perspective, we would like them to work with the operators in terms of managing a cap of the number of drivers on the road, because it's not hard to work out supply and demand and if the demand is going up, then why keep pumping the supply?

"We want to know why they keep recruiting drivers because what's happening is that every time 10 or 20 more drivers come on the road every day, we are all impacted and having to work longer hours and having less time with our families, so this is all about getting a fairer deal."

Peter Cromwell , who has been a taxi driver for six years and acts as an advisor to the PHDA, was another to talk about the increase in drivers and licences being given out, as well as addressing his concerns about safety.

He said: "When you operate as a taxi driver in the West Midlands, you have to go through the council, with the council asking for certain terms and conditions to be met for you to be issued with an operators licence and then be able to apply for trade.

"We've been telling the councils that our safety is an issue because when we report passengers who are physical or abusive, they aren't terminated from the system, but disconnected from making a booking with you, but that passenger can carry on.

"If they've had an issue with a driver, then they shouldn't be on the platform as they are a risk to other drivers, so the councils should be saying the operators that these are our drivers and should be imposing terms and conditions, but they don't.

"We are also facing the issue of our fares decreasing, with the reason being that there is no legislation for the council to stop people applying for a licence and as long as you meet the criteria, they are obliged to give you a licence.

"In Birmingham this year in the first five months, they issued just under 300 licences, while Wolverhampton issued more than 8,500, so you can imagine the effect those drivers are having on the existing drivers, and this is why we feel we are being exploited."

Minhaj Uddin said the aim of the demonstration was around getting councils to send out guidelines to operators around the issues they were facing and protect the drivers.

He said: "We are aware that there are a lot of things that councils cannot deal with themselves as there is legislation that stops the councils from interfering because we have a contractual agreement with these operators.

"However, the councils can do more because these operators are also accountable to the council, just like we are, so if the council sent out a guideline to those operators that we want you to do more to protect these drivers, it would protect their safety and their earnings.

"Today is not about causing disruption, but is about raising awareness because these drivers are being pushed against the wall and we would rather be at work at the moment than doing this, but we are being pushed and so we have to be here."

A spokesman for Wolverhampton Council said: "The demonstration by the Private Hire Drivers Alliance (PHDA) relates to pay, recruitment and safer working conditions.

“These are controlled by private hire operators and Government legislation and not by the council.

“Our licensing team has met with members of the PHDA to listen to their concerns but have made them aware the council has no powers to address any of the demands being made.

“The demonstration is one of a series being held by the PHDA, including a recent event outside operators’ offices in Birmingham.

“Issues raised by the PHDA include a request for local authorities to set higher minimum pay standards, to introduce regulations to limit operators with new driver caps and to improve driver safety at work.

“There is no provision in any legislation for any councils to set the fares paid for private hire journeys. The council is also not legally able to refuse applications for private hire vehicles to limit their numbers.”

Bolt and Uber have been contacted for comment.

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