A Northampton taxi firm is being taken to court by two of its drivers arguing for cabbies to take home a minimum wage and holiday pay.
A court date has been set for Bounds Taxis to dispute whether its drivers should be paid a minimum wage and earn rights as self-employed workers.
The firm will appear for a three-day hearing at Huntingdon County Court, in Cambridgeshire, on April 22.
The two drivers, Mr Shafqat Shah and Mr Samuel Adjei, are suing the company for worker's rights and say the firm's cabbies are working on-average 12 hour days seven-days-a-week to earn a minimum wage.
On average, drivers also have to pay £30-a-day for fuel and insurance while also paying £175-per-week "radio rent" fees to work for Bounds in the first place.
It comes after around 40 drivers protested outside the company's offices in Bradshaw Street in December, which called for a £5 minimum fare on jobs, a freeze on hiring more drivers and for Bounds to instead collect fees on a 15 per cent commission basis instead of a flat fee for drivers.
Now, Mr Shah and Mr Adjei are arguing they are entitled to a guaranteed minimum wage, holiday pay, pension contributions, and collective bargaining rights, among others.
When the Chronicle & Echo first reported on the legal action in July this year, a spokesperson for the company said there were systems in place to achieve a high level of service.
The men are being supported in their claim against taxi firm Bounds by the Independent Workers Union of Great Britain (IWGB), which has taken successful legal action against Uber and Addison Lee.
The Bounds spokesperson said: "We, like every firm in the country, charge a fixed fee and supply the driver bookings. We do not stipulate what time they start or finish, the agreement allows them to come and go as they wish and there are no restrictions on the number of hours they can work or the number of bookings they can receive.
"We must stress that each and every driver is self-employed and has the choice to move to another company any time they wish.
"The majority stay with us as we have, being the largest fleet, the ability to provide a far quicker service than most and consequently have secured a much larger percentage of the work within the town.
"It, therefore, follows that they have the potential to increase their earnings."
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WAKEFIELD
The local authority was deemed to be overcharging cabbies for a trade licence by the High Court in December 2018, in what was viewed as a landmark case.
That ruling was upheld by the Court of Appeal a year later after the council argued against the verdict.
Figures released under the Freedom of Information Act have revealed £11,250 of taxpayer's money, plus £2,250 worth of VAT, was spent on legal fees for the case.
After a conclusion was reached in December, the council accused the High Court of not offering enough "clarity" during the original ruling and suggested they had cost the council "time and money" as a result.
Its defence was backed by the Local Government Association, which represents councils all over the country, many of whom regulated taxi licences in the same way as Wakefield.
The local authority was charging £384 for a licence, a fee which included costs for punishing drivers who break the rules.
But judges said that approach is unlawful and will have to change.
Asked for comment on the size of the legal bill, the council said it had nothing further to add beyond its statement about the case conclusion in December.
The Wakefield and District Private Hire and Hackney Carriage Association, which represents drivers, claimed the verdict would cost the council £1m in payments to drivers dating back to 2004.
The council disputes that figure, however.
What the council said when the case concluded in December
Glynn Humphries, service director for environment, said: “The legal position as to where enforcement costs could be attributed was unclear and today’s judgement has clarified that the costs of enforcement should be met by the taxi trade through fees and should not be subsidised by the council tax payer.
“We very much welcome the clarity from today’s judgement but are disappointed we didn’t get this in the High Court last year, which would have saved everyone involved time and money.
“The council will now review our position in light of the judgement and set up a process to enable drivers to log any claims as easily as possible and try and ensure we assess the claims as quickly as we can.
"We strongly believe that the £1million figure quoted by the taxi trade association does not apply to Wakefield at all. The fees were only applied to vehicles in January 2018 and charges were paused as we sought clarity from the court, which means that no drivers have been charged for this activity from December 2018.
"Going forward we will ensure that all charges are set against the criteria confirmed by the court today."
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