Deliveroo riders ‘forced out of work’ as food delivery firm abruptly prioritises motorbikes and cars Deliveroo cyclists were allegedly given just two working days’ notice before the firm began rewarding drivers

Deliveroo has been accused of “forcing its cyclists out of work”, abruptly putting them “at the back of the queue for shifts”, behind motorbikes and cars.

The takeaway delivery company introduced a new piece of criteria to its shift booking system to prioritise car drivers and motorbike riders last Monday, giving cyclists who transport orders from restaurants to customers just two working days’ notice before the change was implemented, according to a union representing the workers.

Deliveroo ‘statistics’

Deliveroo’s fleet of riders and drivers secure work by booking shifts for the week ahead every Monday, when they mark down the hours they are available. Workers with strong “statistics” are permitted to choose their shifts as many as six hours before those with lower scores.

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Until last Monday workers’ statistics were based on three criteria: the percentage of shifts they showed up to, the percentage of late cancellations they made and the number of super-peak hours – 7pm to 9pm on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays – they did.

Under the new booking system metric, “vehicle priority”, workers operating out of cars or on motorbikes are awarded extra points.

Cyclists pushed out

Workers with the best statistics are invited to book their shifts for the week ahead at 11am, while those with poorer scores have to wait until 3pm or 5pm, when there can be very few free slots left.

“Using a more efficient vehicle gives you earlier booking access,” riders are now being told when they view their statistics.

The boost means “anyone using a bicycle will now likely be shunted to 3pm with barely any hours available,” according to the Independent Workers of Great Britain (IWGB) couriers branch.

‘Forced out of work’

“Across the UK riders are losing their usual access to work with no time to prepare for loss of earnings and through no fault of their own,” it said.

Deliveroo rider and IWGB spokesman Dom Sztyber has had fewer shifts over the past week, and said he had been contacted by cyclists who had seen their hours plummet from more than 40 hours to just a handful.

“If I have perfect stats and a scooter rider does as well as me, that scooter rider will be ahead of me no matter what I do,” Mr Sztyber said. “Cyclists are being forced out of work.”

Hypocrisy?

The IWGB also suggested that Deliveroo was being hypocritical in pushing out cyclists after promoting the business’s eco-friendly image via its marketing material.

Prioritising cars and motorbikes over bikes “shows a total disregard for broader environmental concerns such as poor air quality in our already congested cities,” it said.

Deliveroo denied it was pushing out cyclists. It said in a statement: “We have made a small change to our online booking portal which will mean that as we create even more work across the UK, we will have enough vehicles capable of making longer-distance orders that customers want.”

Company spokesman Robert Oxley added that the number of orders delivered by cyclists in areas where the change has been introduced had only dipped by a little over three per cent.

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