South Yorkshire taxi drivers urged to join legal claim for fair pay against Uber rival Veezu

More than 2,000 South Yorkshire taxi drivers could receive thousands of pounds in compensation after being denied holiday pay and the National Minimum Wage, it is claimed.

Law firm Leigh Day says drivers should be treated as workers because of the way they are allocated jobs, paid and penalised for declining jobs by operator Veezu.

The firm, which owns Sheffield-based Excel Taxis and City Taxis, currently treats them as self-employed contractors.

It follows success in the Supreme Court for drivers for Uber, which uses a similar business model.

Gabriel Morrison, solicitor at Leigh Day, said: “We believe that Veezu drivers should be treated as workers for the company and given the appropriate rights and protection under employment law.

“As with other similar claims, we are confident that we will ultimately be able to help Veezu drivers achieve workers’ rights. All taxi and delivery companies using this type of business model should be aware that they cannot continue to short-change their hard-working drivers.”

The claim is open to all drivers working for Veezu and its partner taxi companies, in the last 10 weeks, he added.

 A Veezu spokesperson said: “We have not received any formal notice about these claims and we are confident that our position on the status of the driver partners operating via Veezu is lawful.”