CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Cycling News
"Courier wins 'gig' economy case against City Sprint"
(3 posts)-
Posted 8 years ago #
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"
City Sprint said it was "disappointed" and will review the ruling "in detail".
While Friday's decision will only apply to Ms Dewhurst, it highlights the working practices of the so-called "gig economy", where people are employed by companies on a job-by-job basis.
It is the first of four legal challenges being taken against courier companies, which include Addison Lee, Excel and E-Courier.
The case follows a similar ruling against the taxi-hailing service Uber in October last year, which found that drivers should be classed as workers rather than self-employed. Uber intends to appeal.
"
Having been a self employed since 1993 I'll watch with interest!
Posted 8 years ago # -
I suggest that it is more to do with the fact that the companies noted require their sub contractors to present themselves as direct representatives of the company, in livery and in uniform, and using a company managed booking(job allocation)system. In effect masquerading as employees using company vehicles (note the wording on many TNT/DHL/yodel etc liveried vans - the delivery partner)
Just as Tom Kearney is leading a growing pressure to get TfL to accept their position as principal client and the agency specifying and managing bus services with the branding London Buses, and as such deliver the due diligence in monitoring the performance of their sub contractors, in fulfilling the duty of care to prevent harm arising from all London Buses activities, so this chain of command must be tracked back for all commercial use of the roads, which by plain observation requires a careful balance of the imperative to operate in a viable/profitable way, and the measures taken to directly eliminate hazards or failing this to manage the risks effectively.
An example here might be seen in the case of the 2 cyclists killed in Cornwall in 2013 by a driver who was driving the night trunk contract for Lidl supermarkets, and working day shifts for the same company maintaining the trucks. It could have been a neatly sewn up detail, with the driver jailed for 8.5 years, but thanks to colleagues at CUK we finally got the haulier called to a Public Inquiry (which he failed to attend) 29 months later, and where he was banned from working in the haulage industry for 10 years. As yet though no response from Lidl UK on how their monitoring and due diligence processes failed to note the previous history of the operator (it took 13 months for them to get an operators licence with significant caveats to exclude the family member who had previously been banned for operating dangerously) plus no monitoring of drivers' records etc, which would have revealed by-passing the speed limiters on the trucks (by disengaging gears and coasting on hills) and very possibly minor incidents presaging the fatal crash, and an identical collision with a car 11 weeks later.
So I'm all for making sure that every 'white van' being driven by a pseudo self employed person struggling to pay for the van and earn some money for the low rates per package paid has a clear connection back to the principal agency running the show, and (as is still the case for buses and coaches) the details of the operator are clearly displayed on the vehicle.
Posted 8 years ago #
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