Up to 12,500 taxi drivers working for the taxi operator Veezu could be entitled to thousands of pounds in compensation after being denied holiday pay and the National Minimum Wage. Veezu currently treats its drivers as self-employed contractors, but drivers claim they should be treated as workers and given the appropriate workers’ rights and protection under employment law.
Law firm Leigh Day is currently acting on behalf of drivers working for Veezu, which owns more than a dozen local taxi companies using booking apps with various brand names across England and Wales.
Employment lawyers at Leigh Day argue that the way Veezu operates – including allocating drivers’ jobs, fixing their rates and penalising them for declining jobs – means drivers qualify as workers. Leigh Day believes there is a strong case that Veezu drivers should be classified as workers and receive compensation for holiday pay and any shortfalls between their pay and the National Minimum Wage.
Veezu, which uses a similar business model to Uber, has taken over several local taxi firms in towns and cities across England and Wales, many of which have their own smartphone booking app.
If the group action is successful, Veezu will only be required to compensate those drivers who have brought a claim. Leigh Day is acting under a ‘no win no fee’ agreement, and details on how to join their claim are here.
Veezu operates the following local taxi brands across England and Wales:
- Dragon Taxis (Cardiff, Bridgend, Vale of Glamorgan, Cwmbran, Pontypool, Newport)
V Cars (Bath, Bristol, Swindon, Chippenham) - SN1 Cars (Swindon)
- Go Carz (Wolverhampton, Telford, Shrewsbury, Oswestry, Walsall, Dudley, Birmingham, Solihull)
- A2B Radio Cars (Birmingham, Solihull, Wolverhampton)
- Amber Cars (Leeds, Bradford, Wakefield, Wetherby)
- City Taxis (Barnsley, Chesterfield, Derby, Dronfield, Rotherham, Sheffield)
- Excel Taxis (Sheffield)
- Britannia Taxis (Knowsley, St Helens, Liverpool, Wigan, Warrington, Widnes, Sefton, Newton Le Willows and Earlestown)
- ABC Taxis (Norwich, Norfolk)
- Panther Taxis (Cambridge)
Gabriel Morrison, solicitor in the employment team at Leigh Day, said:
“We strongly believe that Veezu drivers should be treated as workers for the company and given the appropriate rights and protection under employment law. All taxi and delivery companies using this type of business model should be aware that they cannot continue to short-change their hard-working drivers.”
