Private hire drivers begin 24-hour Bolt strike action after ongoing concerns over worker rights

The App Drivers & Couriers Union (ADCU) are staging a 24-hour work stoppage and demo against Bolt, the minicab operator app, over a claimed failure to respect basic worker rights.

Strike action began at midnight and will continue until 11.59pm tonight.

Private hire driver representatives say drivers now face a cost of living crisis because in the past year they have had to soak up additional operating costs associated with fuel inflation of 34% and vehicle cost inflation of 28% without any adjustment in fares or pay.

The ADCU say minicab drivers have taken 7.8% less than last year due to general inflation.

The drivers are also striking over Bolt’s practice of unfair summary dismissals without right of appeal and the company’s refusal to cooperate with driver requests for access to personal data and algorithmic transparency.

Drivers represented by the ADCU are specifically demanding:

• Fares increase from £1.42 per mile and £0.13 per minute to £2.50 per mile and £0.20 per minute

• End to unfair dismissals

• Bolt to comply with the Supreme Court ruling on worker rights in the Uber case because it is applicable to Bolt also.

• Bolt to provide drivers with access to data and to transparency of algorithmic management.

The ADCU has planned a similar 24-hour stoppage for Uber drivers on 22 June.

Yaseen Aslam, ADCU President, said: “Bolt’s investors have become fabulously wealthy on the back of worker abuse and tax avoidance. Despite their reliance on a public license to operate in the UK, Bolt has unashamedly become the unacceptable face of capitalism with behaviour almost worse even than Uber's.

“Bolt has hung the workforce out to dry by leaving them exposed to fuel and other operating cost inflation but without any pay increase or supplement. Drivers have now reached breaking point which is why they have gone on strike and are asking the travelling public to support their demand for fair pay and fair treatment.“