Why Uber drivers are suing Sadiq Khan

Uber drivers and other minicab operators are taking legal action against London Mayor Sadiq Khan over changes to the city’s congestion charge rules.

From 8 April, private hire vehicles will no longer be exempt from the congestion charge, which means drivers working for minicab firms or ride-sharing apps - a largely ethnic minority workforce - will have to pay £11.50 a day to use roads in central London. However, the charge still will no apply to black cab drivers, “who are overwhelmingly white”, says The Guardian.

Most of the affected drivers will have to pay the charge themselves, rather than passing it on to passengers, because the company sets the rates for fares. Uber driver Abdurzak Hadi told the BBC that he stood to lose about £60 a week as a result of the rule change.

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The Independent Workers Union of Great Britain (IWBG) - which represents low-paid workers in precarious jobs - has issued a “pre-action letter” giving Khan until 6 March to reverse the policy before the group launches a judicial review in the High Court.

The union’s general secretary, James Moyer-Lee, tweeted a message to Khan warning that “you and TfL” could no longer treat private hire drivers like an “easy target cash cow”.

Yaseen Aslam, secretary of the IWGB’s private hire drivers branch, said: “We hope the mayor sees sense and scraps this policy that promises to push thousands of drivers into deeper poverty.”

An estimated 94% of private hire drivers are from black, Asian and other minority ethnic backgrounds, compared with less than 30% of licenced black cab drivers.

Citing those figures, the private hire drivers argue that the ruling is “discriminatory on the basis of race”, reports tech news site Gizmodo.

But the mayor’s office is standing by the decision, saying that a huge rise in private hire vehicles is worsening traffic in the capital and exacerbating air pollution. A spokesman for Khan said: “The number of private hire vehicles entering the congestion charge zone has shot up from 4,000 a day in 2003 when it first came into operation to more than 18,000 now.

“Sadiq simply isn’t prepared to ignore the damaging impact this has on congestion and increasing air pollution.”