IN THE NEWS
ADCU WINS WORKER CLAIM AGAINST NORTHAMPTON-BASED BOUNDS TAXIS
An Employment Tribunal has ruled that private hire drivers at Northampton- based Bounds Taxis are workers. In a case brought by Shafqat Shah and Samue Adjei and backed by the App Drivers & Couriers Union, the Employ- ment Tribunal has confirmed that Bounds Taxis must respect the right of drivers to earn at least the minimum wage, holiday pay and be protected from discrimination. Employment Judge Postle ruled that Bounds drivers are ‘workers without doubt’. Bounds has for years operated a busi- ness model which insists that drivers are self-employed, yet drivers were subject to intense micro management and a harsh disciplinary process. Drivers were required to wear a Bounds uniform under threat of suspension if they did not do so. They were penalised if they missed or refused a job dispatched by app. Commenting on this regime of misclas-
sification the Judge noted in his ruling: “It is clear from the factual basis that each driver had no choice, that was imposed upon them by the Respon- dents no doubt to avoid any potential employer-employee obligations.” Bounds required their driver workforce to pay the company £9,000 in ‘rent’ with no guarantees about how much work, if any, they might receive. The Judge found that ‘rent’ was collected weekly and if drivers were late paying they were ‘fined’ £10 per day by management. In a withering assessment of the evi- dence presented at the Tribunal by Bounds the judge remarked: “Their evi- dence was largely unhelpful, dis- ingenuous and evasive on occasions.” Despite its terrible treatment of the local workforce Bounds boast on their website of being “Northampton’s biggest and most professional private hire and taxi service, serving local customers including Northampton
Social Services, Moulton college and many local schools.”
Shaqat Shah, Chair of ADCU Northamp- ton and claimant in the case said: “I’m relieved that Bounds drivers are now finally recognised as the workers we always were. The era of brutal exploita- tion in the local minicab trade must come to an end but Northampton City Council, which both licenses Bounds and uses its services, must no longer turn a blind eye to the abuse that’s gone on for too long.” Yaseen Aslam, President of ADCU said: “This case once again proves that the problem of worker abuse in the private hire sector is widespread and deeply rooted in the industry. “The ADCU will not hesitate to protect our members and there will be plenty more similar cases to come. If the gov- ernment will not enforce the law to protect the most vulnerable workers in this trade, then we will.”
APOLOGY FOR DISRUPTION TO EAST SUSSEX’S SCHOOL TAXI SERVICE UNDER NEW CONTRACT
East Sussex County Council has apolo- gised to parents after problems arose with a new school taxi contract. The Eastbourne Herald reports that in July, the county council awarded seven ‘one school’ taxi contracts to 24×7 Limited, a specialist school transport company, which has its head office in Essex. The authority stood by its decision, despite challenges from parents and cabbies, but matters started badly after the firm reported it had not received 160 new vehicles ordered to serve its new contract leading to a last- minute changes to pupils’ transport. In a press statement, an East Sussex County Council spokesman said: “We appreciate the concerns raised by the parents and join with 24×7 to apologise
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for any upset and anxiety that has been caused. We want to reassure them that, whilst we work with the provider to address the issues, safe and appropri- ate transport will be provided to enable their children to travel to school. “Following the outcome of a robust and competitive tendering process, we wrote to families over the summer to advise them of changes and introduce new providers. We have been in contact again apologising for the current situation and explaining the arrangements in place. “24×7 has worked successfully with other local authorities and we are confident that they can overcome the current situation and provide a high quality and reliable service.”
The situation has seen further criticism of the council by opposition councillors. Cllr David Tutt, Lib Dem leader, said: “The Conservative administration re-ten- dered the contract for home to school transport. The company which won the contract could not deliver two routes due to insufficient vehicles, drivers and passenger assistants or any backup vehicles in the case of a breakdown. Two parts of the contract then had to be cancelled leaving parents in the lurch.” Lib Dem Cllr Sarah Osborne, added: “This shambles has left parents, includ- ing parents of vulnerable children, faced with uncertainty and confusion. Some children were not collected at all. The Conservatives need to sort this out as a priority.”
OCTOBER 2021
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