Drivers seek to put pressure on the London mayor, Sadiq Khan, to insist that the US minicab company pays the minimum wage

More than a hundred Uber drivers have mounted a go-slow protest through central London to put pressure on the city’s mayor, Sadiq Khan, to insist the US company guarantee the minimum wage.

At least 100 Uber minicabs drove at walking pace down Edgware Road and Park Lane towards Westminster on Tuesday, honking their horns and blocking traffic as drivers angry at low pay for long hours stepped up direct action against the San Fransisco-based firm.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Protest by Uber taxi drivers in London. Photograph: Martin Godwin/The Guardian

The protest infuriated some drivers who found themselves blocked behind a line of slow-moving Toyota Prius cars. One angry black-cab driver shouted: “Do the knowledge!” a reference to the way cabbies have to memorise streets before getting their license rather than rely on GPS maps as Uber drivers do.

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The action was organised by James Farrar and Yaseen Aslam, who three weeks ago won a crucial employment tribunal verdict that Uber should treat its drivers as workers rather then self-employed. The ruling means drivers should be paid the national minimum wage, receive sick pay and holidays. Uber said it would appeal the judgment. Farrar and Aslam have established a representative group for minicab drivers, mostly working for Uber, called United Private Hire Drivers (UPHD).

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“In May 2017, Uber’s licence comes up for renewal and the mayor has a duty to assess whether they are fit and proper to hold a licence,” said Farrar. “He must assess that Uber respects workers’ rights in order to continue having an operator’s licence in London.”

UPHD also sent a letter to Khan apologising for the disruption of its protest, but suggested Uber’s business model resulted in “abuses that would be more fitting of Victorian era London than a 21st-century global mega city”.

It said: “The fact that such abuses are carried out in a trade which is licensed and supervised by TfL [Transport for London] on behalf of all Londoners is nothing short of a public scandal. More than that, drivers working up to 90 hours a week on £5 per hour presents a significant public safety risk.”

Uber insists that its drivers earn more and said that the only case of a driver earning £5 per hour over 90 hours was because they were declining fares. But several drivers who took time off work to join the protest said their earnings were below the legal minimum.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest An Uber driver takes part in the protest. Photograph: Martin Godwin/The Guardian

“I am working 70 to 80 hours a week, which comes out at £4 an hour which is below the minimum wage,” said Ibrahim, 30, an Uber driver for 18 months.

“With these hours, people are going to be falling sick and filling up the NHS and they will be falling back on to benefits,” said Mujeeb, an Uber driver who said he worked 70 to 80 hours a week and only took home about £250after paying his expenses. “If the government doesn’t act, it will cost them.”



An Uber spokesperson defended the business model, and said: “Tens of thousands of licensed drivers in London choose to partner with Uber because they love the freedom and flexibility of being their own boss.”

It claimed its own polling showed 90% of drivers were “satisfied with driving with Uber, and a majority say the amount of money they make, as well their ability to balance work and family life, has increased since they started driving with us.

“We’re proud of the economic opportunities we have created for people who can choose to drive when and where they want. Drivers using our app made average payments of more than £16 an hour after Uber’s service fee this September, and 20% of drivers were logged into the app for 10 hours or less a week with just 25% logged in for 40 or more hours per week.”