Migrant delivery drivers costing us our livelihoods

CALLS FOR CRACKDOWN ON ILLEGAL WORKING

- By Zak Garner-Purkis

ANGRY delivery drivers say their wages have been halved by migrants working illegally while security measures to ensure riders have the right to work are flawed.

After an Express investigation revealed asylum seekers at a Home Office-funded hotel in central London were making fast-food deliveries, the Government demanded firms such as JustEat and Deliveroo improve scrutiny.

However, we found illegal workers already mocking these efforts in WhatsApp groups where courier accounts are bought and sold.

"There will always be a way," one user wrote about the crackdown. Another shared videos of a recent small boat crossing and added "here come more riders".

The Express has also seen first hand how the technology is ineffective at preventing illegal workers bypassing identity checks.

Just Eat's facial recognition security measure can be bypassed simply by swiping back on the phone, while Deliveroo's tool only asks for a photo at the start of a shift.

Delivery driver Edward Betts, 36, said: "I've seen drivers getting their face scan done by other people. At that point, they can freely work for the rest of the day.

"I asked 'can we bring in some effective face identification just to sort this out' and I was told many times like 'yeah, we'll do that' but then it never happened.

"Within about two weeks of starting five years ago I could see there were a lot of illegal workers from different parts of the world and it's just got worse and worse."