Sheffield Taxi Drivers Protest Over Pay Terms

[aardvark6535]

As I understand it from that little box in the corner of the room, “Veezu" used to charge the drivers 20% of the takings, and now they're asking for 35% , If that is correct I'd go on strike as well, I'd of thought 20% is/was too much.

 

[redruby]

2 hours ago, Vrsaljko said:

Yep. That's because loads of taxi drivers declare an amount just below the tax threshold (£12,500 ish) and pocket the rest. I've seen quite a lot of tax returns through my work. I've never seen a taxi driver earning more than £15,000 a year on paper.

Shocking isn’t it?  Far worse than billionaires tax avoidance.  Amazon.  Starbucks etc

 

https://amp.theguardian.com/politics/2024/feb/18/hmrc-investigations-of-wealthy-tax-dodgers-halve-in-five-years

 

https://amp.theguardian.com/technology/2023/jun/01/amazon-uk-services-main-division-pay-no-corporation-tax-for-second-year-in-row-tax-credit-government-super-deduction-scheme

 

https://amp.theguardian.com/business/2022/mar/30/starbucks-uk-corporation-tax-profit-administrative-expenses-royalties

 

The a reason for going after the little people instead though.  It’s easier.

 

[Vrsaljko]

27 minutes ago, redruby said:

Shocking isn’t it?  Far worse than billionaires tax avoidance.  Amazon.  Starbucks etc

 

https://amp.theguardian.com/politics/2024/feb/18/hmrc-investigations-of-wealthy-tax-dodgers-halve-in-five-years

 

https://amp.theguardian.com/technology/2023/jun/01/amazon-uk-services-main-division-pay-no-corporation-tax-for-second-year-in-row-tax-credit-government-super-deduction-scheme

 

https://amp.theguardian.com/business/2022/mar/30/starbucks-uk-corporation-tax-profit-administrative-expenses-royalties

 

The a reason for going after the little people instead though.  It’s easier.

 

 

Tax avoidance is tax avoidance. I'm not saying one is better than the other. The authorities probably could do after the big companies if they wanted to, they just don't want to risk upsetting them and seeing the jobs move abroad.

[ECCOnoob]

1 hour ago, aardvark6535 said:

As I understand it from that little box in the corner of the room, “Veezu" used to charge the drivers 20% of the takings, and now they're asking for 35% , If that is correct I'd go on strike as well, I'd of thought 20% is/was too much.

 

Well why dont those drivers can go off and set up their own organisation and develop all the technology to collate and despatch bookings and track vehicles and deal with all the administration and legislation that comes with handling customer data and payment details and electronic transactions and all the marketing and social media promotions and all the branding and franchising and contracting....

 

If they don't like the new terms and the increase in the deductions, they are free to go elsewhere as many of them seem to do already given they are working dual companies. I'm sure if enough of them walked Veezu would soon get the message. 

 

Why the protesting?  They are supposedly self-employed right? That's where they have the luxury of picking and choosing when they work and how many jobs they want to do each day and managing their own own books and seemingly choosing how much tax they want to pay that year?

 

The accounts have it both ways. 

 

If they want a guaranteed level of income and some security, get them on an employee contract with fixed hours, mandatory work terms and a standard hourly rate with monthly taxable deductions payroll like everyone else does. 

 

They will always have very little sympathy from me. It's about time the taxi mafia are starting to feel some disruption and competition and a reality check. They've had their own way for far too long. It's business.

[SheffieldForum]

1 hour ago, aardvark6535 said:

As I understand it from that little box in the corner of the room, “Veezu" used to charge the drivers 20% of the takings, and now they're asking for 35% , If that is correct I'd go on strike as well, I'd of thought 20% is/was too much.

 

For balance, I believe it changed to a sliding scale — from 12% to 35%.
 

Not sure what times or circumstances trigger the slide though? Is the 35% much more common than the 12% end? Does it balance out to near the original 20% in the end? Is it based on earnings or distances or what?

[Martin C]

As a non-driver I do occasionally need to use taxis and find most drivers to be really lovely people.

Whislt walking around I get the impression that the vast majority of cars in and around central Sheffield are taxis (although sometimes possibly 'off-duty' so as to benefit from their ability to use bus/taxi lanes/gates?).  Acknowledge of course that private cars are rightly banned from many central areas so taxis will inevitably be 'over-represented'.

Business must be booming (great news tax-wise for Jeremy Hunt) though as it's often very difficult to book a pick-up from The Hallamshire. Using an app you can see driver after driver (on one recent occasion well into double figures) rejecting the job. Probably understandable given the ridiculous congestion around A Road but still indicative that they can afford to pick and choose,

[Vrsaljko]

15 minutes ago, Martin C said:

Using an app you can see driver after driver (on one recent occasion well into double figures) rejecting the job.

Did you have the payment method set to card by any chance? I've tried to book a taxi before with the payment method set to card, and at least half a dozen drivers in a row will cancel the job. As soon as you switch to cash, hey presto, the job is accepted.

[Martin C]

1 minute ago, Vrsaljko said:

Did you have the payment method set to card by any chance? I've tried to book a taxi before with the payment method set to card, and at least half a dozen drivers in a row will cancel the job. As soon as you switch to cash, hey presto, the job is accepted.

Yes, card. But usually Uber or Bolt so inevitably so.

[TOM PEPPER]

I always thought they paid for the rental of the radio in their own cars.

[SheffieldForum]

1 minute ago, TOM PEPPER said:

I always thought they paid for the rental of the radio in their own cars.

The ‘radio’ rental is now an app on their phone and like most apps it charges a percentage of a sale — in this case a fare.

 

There’s a lot of debate over what a fair percentage is for an app provider to charge for access to use its service — most apps and app stores for example charge between 10-30% of a sale.

 

I’m not sure what the competition is like in the rideshare space though, or what Veezu’s 12-35% sliding scale works on (someone elsewhere suggested it gets cheaper the more successful trips a driver did).