Drivers delivering food and drink for Just Eat have been sacked after being misdirected by a cut-price GPS system, according to the union representing them.
Couriers who work for Stuart, a company that supplies drivers to some of Britain’s biggest restaurants and retail names, told the Observer they had been fired in a pro forma email after being incorrectly located by the GPS system or diverted from impossible or dangerous routes.
When they tried to appeal their dismissal, they said they had to plead their case to an automated chatbot. They were asked to rate the conversation by clicking on an emoji.
The Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain (IWGB) claims there are dozens of Stuart couriers in cities across the country, from Exeter to Leeds, who have lost their jobs this way. Those who spoke to the Observer described their pain from this treatment and anxiety about their ability to pay rent, bills and essentials as the cost of living continues to rise.
Alex Marshall, president of the IWGB, said the cases were “among the most striking examples of a giant economy that increasingly squeezes workers as hard as it can and then just leaves them with no accountability.
“The decision to use this GPS system is cost-cutting for Stuart, but the implications for couriers are huge,” he suggested.
“People are losing their livelihoods in an instant and those who are still working are putting their lives at risk.”
Evidence shared with the Observer suggests that Stuart implemented his own GPS system as a cost-cutting measure and that he was aware of the problems.
In a direct message conversation on Twitter shared with the Observer, a senior Stewart manager can be seen telling a courier: “Stewart has an in-house built guidance service and it’s not great. We used to use Google Maps directions, but they raised the price 10 times.”
When the courier replies “people get terminated for allegedly deviating from routes and you just said it’s wrong”, the manager admits: “it’s not ideal to [sic].”
Until May, Adnan Odava, 35, was working full-time for app-based Stuart, starting every day at a McDonald’s in Sutton Coldfield. One Tuesday morning, he made the 10-mile bike ride from his home in Birmingham as usual, pulling out his phone on arrival to access the app, as he had done for the past three years. But this morning he received a new message: his account was terminated and his access to the platform was blocked.
In a pro forma email seen by the Observer, Stewart told Odawa that several of his deliveries were “flagged for serious delays caused by excessive deviations,” including three order numbers listed in the email.
Odava didn’t recognize two of them, and the third involved a job where he had arrived on time and made the delivery, but, he says, the app’s GPS misdetected the address, forcing him to cycle nearly a mile to the wrong location for to mark the job as complete. “I was shocked,” he said. “I thought, ‘If you have a problem with me for the first time in three years, you can at least text me and let me know.’
For Odava, yielding to GPS was the only option. The app includes a chat feature for couriers to resolve issues during a shift, but when Odava used this previously, he was left waiting for up to an hour without being able to reach a person.
Screenshots shared with the Observer show couriers similarly pleading their cases to the chatbot, which repeatedly replies: “No worries, an agent will take it from here” and: “This is an automated message, please don’t answer” before asked them to rate the conversation by clicking on an emoji.
After his termination, Odawa repeatedly emailed Stewart, but received only standardized emails in return stating that his request for reinstatement had been denied and the decision was final.
Marshall said the IWGB had investigated 55 cases since March 2021 and that in most cases couriers were not given the opportunity to review the decision with human intervention.
An online appeals form was introduced in late 2021 after a union campaign, but it states that terminations will only be reviewed when couriers can provide “objective evidence” that they are not at fault. Stuart can legally fire couriers without warning or cause as they are classified as independent contractors and not employees.
Screenshots and photos shared with the Observer show a driver in Plymouth being sent through a construction site, with warning signs visible, and a driver from south-east London being sent through a closed road. Others show a driver in east London being targeted for breaking traffic rules by turning right despite a no right turn sign.
Although less well-known than Deliveroo or Uber, Stuart – a subsidiary of parcel company DPD – is a leading player in the gig economy. It is active in more than 100 cities worldwide, most notably in the UK as a subcontractor for Just Eat in England and Wales. Just Eat declined to comment.
Sandeep Salgotra, 36, worked full-time with Stewart in Leicester until he was terminated in April due to “GPS jamming and manipulation”. Before his dismissal, he claims he received a number of warnings about the problem, which he failed to understand because he was unable to find a problem with his GPS connection.
When Stewart didn’t respond to his inquiries, he says he changed his network provider. When the warnings continued, he spent £1,500 on a new phone, but nothing changed. He eventually received a response from Stewart, seen by the Observer, who told him: “You don’t need to worry about being flagged at this stage … So far everything is fine with your status.” Two weeks later, he says, that it was discontinued.
“It was really painful and I am struggling; I support my family as my wife is not working,” said Salgotra. “I have never done anything wrong in my life. I don’t understand why Stewart is treating us this way.
Other couriers who spoke to the Observer after being terminated for routing and GPS reasons similarly described confusion over the reason for their termination and frustration with the company’s refusal to respond to messages or engage in discussion.
One courier says he sent several emails to Stewart, explaining that his phone connection was sometimes down in the rural area where he delivered, but got no response. The complaint he filed in February has so far gone unanswered, he says.
Another courier received a termination email citing “GPS tampering” while in hospital recovering from a traffic accident that occurred during the previous night shift. His subsequent emails, which included photos of his written-off motorcycle, went unanswered.
Marshall said the terminated couriers were “alleged beyond doubt to have acted fraudulently and have been denied a fair and due process.” Many new couriers are recent migrant workers new to an area who need the GPS system and are therefore vulnerable to its shortcomings, he points out.
The union says the GPS problems are just one of many concerns for Stewart’s couriers, some of whom are involved in the giant economy’s longest strike over pay and conditions. Earlier in the strike, Stewart agreed to resolve an issue that had led to the unfair dismissal of couriers whose insurance details had been incorrectly recorded by the company.
A Stuart spokesman said the company “takes the issue of courier departures very seriously”, adding: “We cannot comment publicly on individual cases, but we only make a decision to leave when we have a lot of evidence to do so. support our decision, without exception.”
For couriers, the effects of the termination are profound. “I had to tell my kids that we can’t go anywhere this year, we’re just staying in England,” said Odawa, a father of three. “[Stuart] we act as if we were nothing; they just stop responding and move on.”
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