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Deliveroo riders went on strike in Newcastle to demand better pay and working conditions.

The motorcycle riders gathered at the bottom of St Andrew's Street, in Newcastle City Centre , on Thursday afternoon and said they would not be making any deliveries for the whole day.

They told ChronicleLive they were struggling with finances and were having to pay for fuel, servicing of their bikes and food delivery insurance.

They demanded better pay and improved conditions as well as holiday and sick day rights.

One worker said: "This is a high-risk job. We are going out in all weathers - whether it's raining, snowing or the sun is shining. And we are facing threats and thefts.

"Our working conditions are not good and we are not getting paid enough. Most of us have children and we can't keep going on like this. We want our pay to be raised.

"We are going on strike and won't be making any deliveries today."

One motorcycle rider claimed he had his bike stolen four times.

Others said they were having to work every weekend and did not have any time to spend with their children and families.

Deliveroo says it is investing more in rider fees overall and is paying them more for medium and long distance deliveries. As a result, fees for some shorter distance orders may be lower but the majority of fees have increased, the firm says.

A spokesperson said:"Deliveroo is proud to offer well-paid flexible work to over 25,000 riders in the UK. Riders in Newcastle make over £11 an hour on average, well above the national minimum wage.

"We've recently introduced changes that mean riders are now getting higher fees for the deliveries they make. We have paid out higher fees on more than 70% of orders since those changes.

"Deliveroo wants to give riders more security whilst protecting the flexibility they enjoy. This is why Deliveroo was the first company in the on-demand economy to automatically enroll riders on a free insurance package.

"Deliveroo wants to go further, and has called on the Government to update employment legislation to end the trade off between flexibility and security.

"Rider safety is a priority for Deliveroo and we have introduced a number of features in the app to allow riders to raise concerns about specific delivery areas. Riders can also unassign themselves from a delivery if they don’t feel safe, which won’t affect how they work with us in the future."

The company is introducing a street-routing tool which will ensure the predicted time for each delivery, and therefore the fee offered to the rider is better reflective of the time the rider will actually take on a specific order.

It also adds that it has a partnership with Zego offering pay-as-you-go moped insurance, which means that riders only pay for the time they work, rather than a traditional annual premium.

In addition, workers using motorised vehicles receive higher fees than cyclists to reflect the additional fuel costs.

The firm says it has a number of initiatives to help keep riders safe, including a contact line for them to report any concerns and safety surgeries.