Court date set for union suing Northampton's Bounds Taxis for workers' rights

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."