Sheffield's City Taxis changes name to Veezu and ditches words 'driver' and 'customer'

The new owner of Sheffield’s City Taxis has changed its name - and dropped some familiar terms.

The city’s biggest cab company will henceforth be known as Veezu. It insists they don't have drivers because they are all self-employed. And they don't have customers because they pay drivers direct. Instead, the firm uses the terms ‘driver-partner’ and ‘passenger’.

The firm said: "We use these specific terms as driver-partners are independent businesses in their own right – they are not Veezu employees, nor our workers."

The careful terminology is linked to a claim for compensation for drivers who say they have been denied holiday pay and National Minimum Wage. 

Law firm Leigh Day believes more than 2,000 are workers, and therefore eligible, because of the way they are allocated jobs and paid. Veezu says it is confident its position on driver-partners is lawful.

Established in the 1980s, City Taxis began with 34 cars and a paper booking system. It snapped up Mercury Taxis in 2015 and most recently Excel Taxis. City was bought by Veezu in February. 

Longstanding City Taxis boss Arnie Singh is the new Veezu regional managing director.

He said: "The rebrand is more than a name change. We are firmly putting the Veezu name on the map in Sheffield and are committed to serving the local community.”

In 2022 Veezu had more than 10,000 ‘driver-partners’ nationally.