Union urges MPs to press private hire app firms on pay, safety and data transparency in key licensing inquiry meeting
- Perry Richardson
- Nov 18, 2025
- 2 min read
The App Drivers and Couriers Union (ADCU) has called on MPs to take a far more rigorous line of questioning when representatives from Uber, Bolt, Veezu and Vokes Taxis appear before the Transport Committee on 19 November.
The union has highlighted their concerns, claiming that long-standing gaps in licensing law and regulatory oversight have left private hire apps operating with limited scrutiny. ADCU says these gaps have fuelled low pay for drivers, increased risks for passengers and weakened the ability of councils to enforce standards.
Wednesday’s hearing, which forms part of the committee’s wider inquiry into taxi and private hire licensing, is expected to examine issues including safety, cross-border working, accessibility and the fragmented nature of current regulation.
ADCU President Cristina-Georgiana Ioanitescu said the inquiry comes at a crucial time for the workforce. Ioanitescu said: “We believe this inquiry is urgently needed. Years of weak regulation and fragmented oversight have left multinational operators free to exploit inconsistencies in licensing rules, maximise profits through opaque pricing systems, and shift commercial risk onto drivers.
“ADCU continues to advocate for a national framework for licensing that addresses cross-border loopholes, real-time data sharing with licensing authorities, fair pricing and wage transparency, and worker rights protections that align with court-recognised employment status.”
Ahead of the hearing, the union has outlined a series of areas it believes the committee must prioritise to ensure meaningful scrutiny of the operators giving evidence.
The first relates to cross-border working and licensing powers. ADCU are pushing for MPs to ask whether national minimum standards are now unavoidable, how operators justify dispatching work to drivers licensed far outside the areas they serve, and whether councils have the tools and resources needed to regulate out-of-area drivers.
On workplace standards, ADCU is seeking clarity on how the major platforms monitor driver working hours, manage fatigue and ensure safe operations when drivers are classified as self-employed. It also wants MPs to question why operators do not share transparent earnings data with licensing authorities.
The third strand concerns data sharing and transparency. ADCU says journey-level data should be shared with licensing authorities in real time, not retrospectively or on request. The union also questions why decisions on trip allocation, driver deactivation and risk assessment are kept inside company systems without any independent audit. It believes that external oversight is necessary to ensure fair treatment of drivers and proper safeguarding.
The union’s final area of focus centres on price setting and surge pricing. ADCU is urging MPs to ask how dynamic pricing affects what drivers actually earn, whether companies take a disproportionate share of surge income, and what protections exist to prevent sudden fare increases making essential journeys unaffordable. The union also argues that algorithmic pricing should be subject to regulatory oversight to ensure it operates fairly and transparently.
With the committee set to question operators, licensing specialists and safety campaigners, the ADCU sees this evidence session as a key opportunity to examine how the market functions and what pressures drivers and passengers face. The union hopes MPs will take a direct approach to questioning, pressing witnesses to justify their practices and to explain clearly how they intend to meet higher licensing expectations.
