PHV DRIVERS ‘CANNOT SUBSIDISE CONSUMERS’: Driver reps demand ALL operators add £1 fuel surcharge
Updated: Apr 12, 2022
Private hire drivers CANNOT subsidise rising fuel costs and have demanded ALL operators add a £1 fuel surcharge to cover costs.
The App Drivers and Couriers Union (ADCU) have called for ride-hailing operators which includes Uber, Bolt, FREE NOW and Ola, to stop using minicab drivers as a ‘human shield against energy price inflation’.
The union hope an increase of £1 on all fares charged to the customer will negate high petrol and diesel costs which drivers must currently cover.
An ADCU spokesperson said via social media: “All the major UK private hire operators are using drivers as a human shield against energy price inflation to boost their profits.
“Our members, already earning below minimum wage, have had to shoulder a 36% fuel price increase and a 29% increase in vehicle maintenance costs. Workers cannot pass on the extra costs and the operators refuse to do so.
“We say enough is enough! We are demanding that all operators immediately levy a £1 fuel surcharge on every trip to be paid in full to their drivers. Passengers should demand the same of operators and should anyway pay the driver £1 extra on every trip. Workers cannot subsidise consumers!”
In the US passengers are now paying a surcharge of either $0.45 or $0.55 on each Uber trip and either $0.35 or $0.45 on each Uber Eats order, depending on their location—with 100% of that money going directly to workers’ pockets.
The surcharges are based off the average trip distance and the increase in fuel prices in each state. This is temporary for at least the next 60 days, when Uber will reassess.
In an email sent to Uber’s Regional Manager Jamie Heywood on 22 March 2022, the ADCU first focused on gaining Uber’s support to help UK drivers to cover out of control fuel bills.
Motorists have begun seeing patchy supply of petrol and diesel across the UK once again. Garage fuel supply to pumps have been most severe across the South Midlands towards South of UK.
According to campaigners FairFuelUK, university counties Oxfordshire and Cambridgeshire seems to be hit hardest, with intermittent supplies significant in Norfolk, Plymouth, Leamington, Sussex, Hampshire and Greater London.
It is believed diesel supply seems worse than petrol as Extinction Rebellion and Just Stop Oil anti fossil fuel groups cause disruption to the UK's 37million drivers.
