LONDON minicab drivers held a motorcade protest against Transport for London’s (TfL) failure to regulate Uber and similar operators at the weekend.

About two dozen app drivers, members of the IWGB union, drove slowly in convoy through central London on Saturday night demanding the body introduce regulation to protect them from passenger violence, unfair dismissal and exploitative pay.

The union also called for a 24-hour consumer boycott, urging passengers not to use ride-hailing apps in solidarity with drivers.

IWGB private-hire drivers’ branch chairman Nader Awaad said: “The UK’s private hire industry is a wild west. With no protection from unfair dismissal, drivers see their entire livelihoods go up in smoke, in the blink of an eye, for no reason.

“With no real safety measures we are left completely unprotected from passenger violence, frequently resulting in serious injuries or, in the tragic case of our member Gabriel Bringye, death. That’s before we even start talking about pay.”

Mr Awaad described a colleague’s journey in which nearly 75 per cent of the passengers’ fee went to Uber in commission.

Mr Bringye, a 37-year-old private-hire cab driver, was stabbed to death in February 2021 after a group of teenagers tried to steal his vehicle.

IWGB president Alex Marshall said: “People that came before us fought hard to win us weekends, holidays, the minimum wage, capped working hours, and sick pay: basic rights that everyone would agree changed life in our society for the better.

“But gig economy companies like Uber have found legislation loopholes to strip their workforce of those rights and bring back Dickensian levels of exploitation.

“Drivers on these apps are now forced to work 70 or even 80 hour weeks in some cases.”

A TfL spokesperson said: “We take our responsibilities as the licensing authority seriously to ensure that everyone can travel safely and reliably. Operators must meet high standards in order to be licensed in London and we continually keep licensing requirements under review to ensure safe services for Londoners.”

Uber was contacted for comment.