Taxi driver repaid after Central Taxis took £500 from wages for damaged cabhttps://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/fp/ne ... -tribunal/An Aberdeenshire taxi driver has won £500 at an employment tribunal after his employer deducted money from his wages following a crash.
Fraser Allan was working for Central Taxis (North East) Ltd when he reversed into a wall in the early hours of June 1 last year.
The crash caused more than £2,416 worth of damage to the vehicle.
The taxi company operates across Inverurie, Ellon and Peterhead.
Aberdeen taxi driver wins tribunalMr Allan, who was employed as an “ad hoc” driver from March 2022 accepted that he was at fault.
The company had to pay a £500 insurance excess and began deducting £100 a month from Mr Allan’s wages to recover the cost.
On June 30 2025 his pay slip showed a deduction of £100 in relation to that damage.
Central Taxis had decided to deduct £100 per month over five months to meet the excess.
It had not informed Mr Allan of its intention to do so before deducting the money from his salary.
Central Taxis’ position was that there was a widespread practice which had not been challenged before the claimant did.
The firm said it was similar to a hire of a vehicle and if there was fault the hirer was responsible to pay for that, and that the company had been fair in how they had acted.
But the tribunal ruled the deductions were unlawful.
‘This will be taken from your wages’Although the company had posted a notice on its internal driver app on February 2023 stating that drivers who damage vehicles would have to pay up to £500 – taken from wages.
The message stated: “Drivers who damage company vehicles will have to pay for damage up to £500 or what it cost the company.
“This will be taken from your wages.”
Mr Allan had not signed any written agreement consenting to deductions.
The ruling stated: “The claimant did not read that notice at the time and was not aware of it until raised with him after the deduction was initially made.”
He had also not signed any written contract or the legally required statement of employment particulars.
Employment judge Mr A Kemp found that a notice on an app describing a rule as “company policy” was not enough to make it a contractual provision or written consent from the employee before deductions can be made.
The company argued that it had operated this policy for years, and that it was fair for drivers at fault to cover the insurance excess.
Fairness was not the issueHowever, the tribunal said fairness was not the issue, legality was.
Judge Kemp concluded there was no contractual right allowing the deduction and no written agreement from Mr Allan authorising it.
In his ruling he said: “Having regard to all the evidence before me I concluded that there was no term of the contract between the parties permitting a deduction, and (as there was no other agreement signed by the claimant) the deductions made totaling £500 did not meet the requirements of section 13 of the 1996 Act, and were unauthorised accordingly.
“An award of that sum to the claimant is made in light of that.”
As a result, the £500 taken from his wages amounted to an unauthorised deduction under section 13 of the Employment Rights Act 1996.
The tribunal ordered Central Taxis to repay the full £500.
The ruling also noted that another driver had challenged a similar deduction, and that the company now intends to introduce new documentation for staff to sign regarding wage deductions in future.
Central Taxis has been contacted for comment.
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