Taxi Driver Online

Don't all rush at once to crowdfund Veezu and Delta in their David v Goliath battle


Taxi firms crowdfund legal battle with Uber over VAT on fares in UK

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/ ... t-fares-uk

Minicab drivers say Uber’s bid to apply tax to all rides would put many out of business and leave people stranded

Two British taxi companies have launched a crowdfunding drive for the last leg of a lengthy legal battle with Uber that could result in higher cab fares.

Uber will seek, at a supreme court hearing in July, a ruling on contractual models that affect whether VAT applies to private-hire companies outside London, which it has argued would level the playing field across the UK.

However, the minicab industry has fought the move, which it said could raise the cost of taxi journeys outside London by at least 20%.

The private hire firms Delta Taxis from Liverpool and Veezu from Cardiff are attempting to raise £500,000 to sustain their legal battle. Costs already exceed £1m after high court cases in 2022 and 2023, and a court of appeal case in 2024.

Uber was forced to add VAT to rides booked through its app after a ruling in 2021 regarding its fares in London. It then took legal action involving Sefton council in Merseyside – where Delta is based – over its terms for operators.

Private hire vehicle (PHV) companies have usually classed drivers as independent, self-employed contractors and so do not pay VAT.

The industry argues that regulatory change would disproportionately affect passengers who rely on cabs, such as elderly people and those with restricted mobility in areas with poor public transport. According to Veezu, its data shows that 43% of minicab trips are for medical, work, or educational reasons, rather than leisure.

The cab firms have said that many small operators could be forced out of business, affecting an estimated 25,000 self-employed drivers, leaving passengers with fewer or no services.

Paul McLaughlin of Delta Taxis said the appeal was a “David v Goliath moment”, adding: “This court case could have massive repercussions for PHV firms like us using the traditional agency model, which has been part of British culture for generations. If Uber win, it will add at least 20% to the cost of a private hire taxi fare outside of London … The impact will be felt far and wide.”

Nia Cooper, the chief legal officer at Veezu, said: “This case is about protecting the future of the private hire industry and the millions of passengers who rely on it every day. The private hire industry is integral to the transport network in UK and provides essential journeys to passengers, particularly those that are vulnerable.”

An Uber spokesperson said: “Uber believes that there should be consistency throughout the UK to ensure all operators are required to have the same model.”

If Delta and Veezu are the Davids v the Uber Goliath, what does that make the rest of us at the bottom of the food chain?

Anyway, here's the photo the Guardian is using to illustrate the piece - with that yellow bonnet sticker it looks like a Manc City Council PHV?

https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/a2df60a4 ... &crop=none

The Business Matters publication has a very similar piece, and they're using this photo to illustrate it - HCs at Exeter station, perchance?

https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/upl ... scaled.jpg

So two wealthy PH barons trying to get their less wealthy customers and drivers to pay for their legal challenge to protect their wealth.

I pity the fool who does so !

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

Well said, Edders, but I'd guess their target market is the big players like Blueline, Boro Cars, Bounds and Aqua et al. That's just a few of the big names off the top of my head, but of course there will be hundreds of others of vary sizes that would be affected by the case...

(In fact, while no doubt difficult to measure numbers in terms of business entities, no doubt there are thousands of operator's licences in issue across England...Wolverhampton issues 500 operator's licences alone )

Of course, that's not to say they would be unhappy with cash from individual drivers, and they'll no doubt make it sound like it's about everyone in the trade. But, equally, no doubt the vast majority of any cash they'll raise will be from the circuits

Of course, should have included the link the the actual crowdfunder. Reads here like it's mainly Delta actually doing it all (the crowdfunder, at least), but presumably it's all endorsed by Veezu.

But so far they've raised £125 from seven contributors, and indeed it does look like individual drivers

Of course, once word gets round, no doubt bigger money will be rolling in from the bigger players...

But below is also the text included in the crowdfunder, but if anyone wants to see the accompanying glossy photos, or wants to contribute, then just visit the link below:


Delta Taxis (Merseyside)

Case Owner

We are a private hire booking agent established in 1968. Alongside fellow operators Veezu, we're fighting against VAT being added to taxi fares on behalf of drivers and users UK-wide.

https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/protectfares/

An historic legal battle has raged on since early 2022 over the price of taxi fares outside London and it’s about to come to a head.

The UK’s private hire vehicle and taxi industry is locked in a David vs Goliath battle with Uber – and we need your support.

A landmark legal case could see private hire vehicle fares outside London rise by 20% if Uber Britannia Limited succeeds in its Supreme Court challenge, making rides more expensive for passengers, reducing the number of licensed drivers, and threatening small and medium operators’ survival. At our latest appearance in court, Delta Taxis and Veezu, championing the interests of the Private Hire Vehicle sector and all those who depend on it, were able to successfully defend our position against Uber and overturn a far-reaching High Court ruling in their favour. But in the latest twist to this saga, Uber is set to appeal in the highest court in the land, the Supreme Court.

If we lose, it will have a huge knock-on effect for the rest of the industry – and mean every customer using private hire vehicle services outside of London would have to pay VAT on each fare, adding at least 20% to the total cost of their journeys.

What’s at Stake?

• Fares up by at least 20% overnight – Operators will be forced to charge VAT, pushing fares higher.
• A blow to vulnerable passengers – Many rely on PHVs as their only affordable transport, especially in rural areas.
• Smaller firms and community transport services at risk – Uber’s dominance would grow as small operators close, and passengers and drivers will be left with fewer transport choices.
• Driver exodus from the sector – as fares increase, demand will reduce, and drivers will leave the sector

How You Can Help

Legal battles aren’t cheap, and so far, costs have been shouldered by key industry players. We don’t have the deep pockets of a multi-national company, so we need to work together to win this battle. We’re asking operators, drivers, passengers and anyone impacted by this issue to support our fight to stop Uber’s bid to reshape the industry to its advantage. We are raising £500,000 to as a fighting fund. This may be just a drop in the ocean.

Stand with us – let’s stop Uber before it’s too late.

Why should you care about this as a customer?

Private Hire Vehicles are a vital transport service, representing the only transport option for many passengers. If fares are subject to full 20% VAT, then it will become much harder to provide services that are reliable and cost effective, 24 hours a day, seven days per week. Moreover, outside major towns and cities, PHVs are even more critical, serving as a vital lifeline for many households and communities especially in less connected rural areas. With the tax change, rides could become unaffordable for vulnerable low-income passengers. In a cost-of-living crisis, this extra cost will hit passengers hard - especially those who rely on private hire as an essential service.

What about the impact on drivers and operators?

This case is incredibly important for private hire drivers and operators as it has the potential to reshape legal and financial responsibilities within the industry.

Managing VAT will be a major administrative burden, which many small and medium operators will struggle to implement. This additional cost will drive operators, many of them family run businesses, out of the local communities they have served for decades. As fares increase, demand declines and operators close, drivers will leave the sector. This will lead to further price increases for passengers and Uber will have more control over the market, allowing it to set the rules and charge what it likes.

The background to the case

In July 2024, Delta and Veezu proudly led the effort that resulted in the Court of Appeal's ruling in the Uber vs Sefton Borough Council Case on behalf of smaller private-hire operators across the UK. This pivotal decision overturned the previous declaration by the High Court the previous year, which had asserted that private hire vehicle operators enter into a direct contract with passengers, making them liable for VAT at 20% for all operators outside London. The case centred around a new interpretation of a licensing statute dating back to 1976, which suggested that all private hire vehicle fares should be subject to VAT at 20%, a move that could have drastically increased private hire fares. Historically, Licensing Authorities, operators, and regulators interpreted these lines without issue for nearly five decades. In July 2023, the High Court ruled that private hire operators must form contracts with passengers. This decision raised concerns about the resulting significant fare increases. Now, Uber has escalated the case to the Supreme Court in a final attempt to impose VAT on all private hire journeys nationwide – so this is once again at stake.

We need your help!

Fighting Uber’s legal challenge is costly, but the stakes are high. We need industry and public support to defend the Court of Appeal ruling and compete with the resources at the disposal of Uber to protect choice in private hire. This is a David vs Goliath battle—help us fund the fight to keep fares fair and this vibrant industry alive.

Thank you

Every donation of any size matters to us immensely and we are truly grateful for your support.

No point going through all that with a fine tooth comb, but confirms what I suspected about roping in drivers and even customers as all part of the David against the Uber Goliath

And, of course, there's the usual thing about portraying Uber as something completely different from the private hire industry, as opposed to an integral part of it. Of course, usually the purpose of that PH v Uber binary is maybe more for PR and marketing purposes, but here it's really the crux of what the case is all about

But I'd guess that my initial thoughts about grassroots drivers being uninterested in it all may be spectacularly wrong, but we'll see

Well, I shall not be contributing to their fund.

We have to remember how we got to the VAT issue. It came about after the Supreme Court said that Uber was the principal and therefore liable to VAT. But the case wasn't over (initially) VAT, it was over workers' rights.

So would it be unfair for me to say that Veezu and Delta are really concerned about the workers' rights issue rather than the VAT one?

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IDFIMH

No doubt their driver partners will be donating bundles to the cause.

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IDFIMH

Both, I'd guess, but they'll not want to highlight the parallel between the two, because in terms of actual enforcement and implementation as regards how the VAT issue pans out, the employment status issue is an entirely different beast

And, in a similar vein, noticed this in the TaxiPoint version:


Not sure if that's right. Or, at least, it's an oversimplification

The VAT thing certainly stemmed from the employment status case in the Supreme Court, but I don't think that decision directly meant that "Uber had to charge VAT on its fares in London." Can't be bothered looking it up, but wasn't there actually another court process stemming from the Supreme Court case that eventually meant Uber had to charge VAT on London fares?

Anyway, as usual TaxiPoint also illustrates my usual gripe with this sort of thing:


Wouldn't it be more accurate, particularly in this context, to describe Uber as a 'private hire giant', and thus get to the crux of what it's all about rather than confusing the issue to make it sound like Uber is something conceptually different?

I mean, the current process is all about booking arrangements under the private hire legislation under which Delta, Veezu and Uber are licensed, and all the rest of them in the private hire industry. Ergo...

Perhaps I’m being a tad naive but I am almost certain that the government will not be party to a 20% increase in all booked taxi/PH fares. If the likes of Delta and Veezu are unsuccessful I believe the government will intervene and change the rules.

So to me this is all about workers’ rights.

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IDFIMH

from the sounds of what Stuart posted very few have !

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

Had forgotten that I meant to keep checking the crowdfunder...

£225 so far from 18 contributors

That's an average £12.50 each

Well maybe it'll really get going a bit later, or maybe the big funders will contribute their money some other way.

But if the crowdfunder itself is intended to raise £500k then it will have to get going, and pretty soon, because as things stand they'll be lucky to raise £2k or so over the thirty days

Those numbers are an utter embarrassment for those firms.

Not sure whose idea it was but they need sacking.

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IDFIMH

So in the last 48 hours, someone has contributed £5. Yes, one £5 pledge in 48 hours

From what I know about these things (very little, admittedly), they normally last a month or so, and most of the funding will be pledged in the first few days.

So unless it bucks the usual trend, this one looks like it'll be lucky to raise £1k