According to the union representing them, drivers handing out food and drink to Just Eat have been fired after being misdirected by a low-cost GPS system.
The messengers, who work for Stuart, a company that supplies drivers to some of Britain’s biggest restaurants and businesses, told the Observer they were fired by proforma email after being mistaken for the GPS system or deviate from impossible or dangerous routes. .
The British Self-Employed Workers Union (IWGB) claims that there are dozens of messengers for Stuart in cities across the country, from Exeter to Leeds, who have lost their jobs this way. Those who spoke with the Observer described their pain over this treatment and anxiety about their ability to pay rent, bills, and basic expenses as the cost of living continues to rise.
Alex Marshall, president of the IWGB, said the cases were “among the most egregious examples of a gig economy that is increasingly squeezing workers as much as possible and then simply dropping them without any responsibility.
“The decision to use this GPS system is to reduce costs for Stuart, but the ramifications for messengers are huge,” he suggested.
“People are losing their livelihoods in an instant and those who are still working are putting their lives at risk.” Evidence shared with the Observer suggests that Stuart brought his GPS system home as a cost-cutting measure and that he is aware of the problems.
In a direct message conversation on Twitter, shared with the Observer, a Stuart senior director can be seen telling a messenger, “Stuart has an in-built address service and it’s not great. We used Google’s directions before. Maps, but they increased the price 10 times. “
When the messenger replies “people are fired for allegedly deviating from the routes and you just said it’s wrong,” the manager acknowledges, “It’s not perfect, yes [sic]. ”
Until May, Adnan Odawa, 35, worked full-time for the application-based Stuart, starting each day at McDonald’s in Sutton Coldfield. One Tuesday morning he made the 10-mile bike ride from his home in Birmingham as usual, taking out his phone on arrival to log in to the app as he had done for the past three years. But that morning, he had a new message: his account had been canceled and his access to the platform blocked.
In a proforma email seen by the Observer, Stuart told Odawa that several of his deliveries had been “marked by serious delays caused by excessive diversions,” including three order numbers listed in the email.
Odawa did not recognize two and the third was related to a job where he had arrived on time and made the delivery, but he says the app’s GPS incorrectly located the address, forcing him to go to bike almost a mile to the wrong location. to mark the job as complete. “It surprised me,” he said. “I thought, ‘If you have a problem with me for the first time in three years, you can at least send me a message and let me know.'”
For Odawa, giving in to GPS was the only option. The app includes a chat feature for messengers to resolve issues during the shift, but when Odawa used it earlier it had been waiting for up to an hour, unable to communicate with a human.
Screenshots shared with the Observer show messengers requesting their cases in a similar way to the chatbot, which repeatedly replies, “Don’t worry, an agent will take it from here” and: “This is an automated message, please do not reply “before asking them to rate. the conversation by clicking on an emoji.
After quitting his job, Odawa repeatedly emailed Stuart, but only received standardized emails in return, stating that his reinstatement application had been denied and that the decision was final.
Marshall said the IWGB had investigated 55 cases since March 2021 and that, in most cases, messengers had no opportunity to review the decision with human participation.
An online appeal form was introduced in late 2021 after the union campaign, but states that terminations will only be reviewed when messengers can provide “objective evidence” that they were not at fault. Stuart can legally fire couriers without notice or reason, as they are classified as independent contractors, not as employees.
Screenshots and photos shared with the Observer show a Plymouth driver being routed through a construction site, with visible warning signs, and a South East London driver sent by a roadblock . Others show a driver in East London being asked to breach right-of-way traffic rules despite a right-of-way traffic sign.
Although less well known than Deliveroo or Uber, Stuart, a subsidiary of the DPD package company, is a major player in the economy. He is active in over 100 cities around the world, most notably in the UK as a subcontractor for Just Eat in England and Wales. Just Eat declined to comment.
Sandeep Salgotra, 36, worked full-time with Stuart in Leicester until he was fired in April due to “GPS blocking and manipulation.” Prior to his dismissal, he says he received a number of warnings on the subject, which he did not understand, as he could not find any problems with his GPS connection.
When Stuart did not respond to his inquiries, he says, he switched network provider. When the announcements continued, he spent £ 1,500 on a new phone, but nothing changed. Finally, he received a response from Stuart, seen by the Observer, telling him, “You don’t have to worry about being marked at this stage … For now, everything is fine with your condition.” Two weeks later, he says, he was fired.
“It has been very painful and I am struggling; I support my family because my wife doesn’t work, ”said Salgotra. “I’ve never done anything wrong in my life. I don’t understand why Stuart treats us that way.”
Other messengers who spoke to the Observer after being canceled for routing and GPS reasons similarly described the confusion over the cause of their terminations and frustration at the company’s refusal to respond. messages or to discuss.
A courier says he sent several emails to Stuart explaining that his phone connection was sometimes set aside in the rural area where he delivered, but received no response. An appeal he filed in February has gone unanswered so far, he says.
Another messenger received a termination email citing “GPS manipulation” while he was in the hospital recovering from a traffic accident that happened during the previous night’s shift. His subsequent emails, which included images of his canceled motorcycle, went unanswered.
Marshall said the dismissed messengers “were undoubtedly assumed to be acting fraudulently and were denied a fair and proper trial.” Many new messengers are recent migrant workers in an area who need the GPS system and are therefore vulnerable to their mistakes, he notes.
The union says GPS issues are just one of many concerns for Stuart’s messengers, some of whom are involved in the economy’s longest strike on wages and conditions. Early in the strike, Stuart agreed to resolve an issue that had led to the unfair termination of the messengers whose insurance details had been incorrectly recorded by the company.
A Stuart spokesman said the company “takes the issue of courier termination very seriously,” adding, “We can’t publicly comment on individual cases, but we only make the decision to leave the boarding when we have a lot of evidence.” to support our decision, without exception ”.
They added: “Stuart operates an appeals process that is followed in all cases where an appeal is filed.”
For messengers, the effects of terminations are profound. “I had to tell my kids that this year we can’t go anywhere, we’ll just stay in England,” said Odawa, a father of three.
“[Stuart] act as if we were nothing; they just stop responding and keep going. “