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Uber drivers say £80 goodwill payment fails to cover three days lost after app outage
London Uber drivers have criticised an £80 goodwill payment offered after a software issue left them unable to access the platform for three days in August. The GMB union says the amount does not fairly reflect drivers’ lost earnings.
Drivers were unable to access Uber over the weekend of 14 to 17 August after the system failed to alert them that their profile photographs were due to expire. GMB, which represents thousands of private hire drivers, estimates that hundreds were affected and has pressed the platform to provide compensation.
The £80 offer works out at about £3.33 an hour if spread across three eight-hour working days. Uber’s offer has been described by drivers and the union as inadequate for the income lost during the outage.
One GMB member and Uber driver said: “Uber logged me out unexpectedly at the busiest period of the week and offered me a miserly £80 for putting me out of work for three days.
“Working for Uber is continuously becoming less profitable, I was let down and disappointed.”
Separately, GMB says it has been made aware of a problem with Uber Lux, the platform’s premium service, in which eligible drivers were not visible to riders in the app. The union says affected drivers have not yet been offered compensation.
A GMB member and Uber Lux driver said: “For around three and a half weeks, I was effectively unable to access Uber Lux which caused me significant financial hardship, losing access to around £1000 worth of work a week.
“What made the situation particularly distressing was that I repeatedly contacted Uber, followed the troubleshooting they provided, and even visited an Uber Hub four times, yet the problem remained unresolved.”
Matthew Wright, GMB regional organiser, said: “Uber’s offer of £80 for three days’ lost work is an insult.
“Our members want fair compensation for their financial losses and reassurance that Uber will deal with any future issues swiftly and effectively.”
GMB is seeking compensation for drivers affected by the August outage and says it wants reassurance from Uber about how similar problems will be handled. The union’s account of the Uber Lux issue describes a separate period of around three and a half weeks, with one driver estimating lost work of about £1,000 a week.
