Taxi drivers hold protest in Wolverhampton over pay, safety and licensing regulations

The drivers, who came from as far as Birmingham, took part in a peaceful demonstration outside Wolverhampton Civic Centre on Wednesday which related to pay, recruitment and safer working conditions.

Organised by the Private Hire Drivers Alliance (PHDA), the event followed on from recent demonstrations held outside private hire operators’ offices in Birmingham and saw around 30 people gather to listen to speeches from members of the PHDA, before carrying a petition into the Civic Centre.

It was a day for those in the Alliance to talk about the issues they faced, from feeling exploited by companies such as Uber and Bolt to safety concerns and feeling like the licensing authorities at the different Black Country councils aren't listening to what they are saying and aren't responsible for the issues they are facing.

PHDA chairman Minhaj Uddin was one of the speakers at the demonstration and spoke about wanting to get a sense of unity with all the drivers and more protection for drivers.

He said: "We're inviting all the councils to do more to protect the drivers from exploitation because there are giant operators like Uber and Veezu who I feel are exploiting drivers in an industry which is unregulated.

"They need to do more, rather than distancing themselves from the real issues, and we want them to do more to help the drivers and the previous protests have had an impact as the councils have started to show a kind of support."

PHDA general secretary Saj Amed said that companies like Bolt and Uber had heard about the protests, but said he felt they didn't want to engage with the drivers and felt they were being left short-changed.

He said: "I feel they clearly don't care about the drivers and they will say that they are paying the drivers minimum wage and they get holiday pay, but this is a lifestyle choice that I chose, leaving a corporate environment to work in this industry, and I didn't come here to earn minimum wage.