Delivery rider dilemmas: we need to enforce the law without picking on easy targets

Uninsured driving, riding and illegal modification of vehicles is a problem in 21st Century Britain. Both the tech companies behind delivery services and the government could be doing a lot more to sort out regulation and compliance, says Cllr Tom Bailey

Back in January 2018, after enjoying the festive season and determined to lose some weight, I first signed up as a Deliveroo Rider. After working the day getting a transport data startup company off the ground, I’d don my snazzy Rider Cap, fire up the app and take to Newcastle’s streets to lose a lbs and make a few £s.

With the “Culture War” issues of migration and gig economy bike riders hitting the news, it’s struck me that I’m likely one of the few local politicians in the UK with direct experience.

Even for someone who spends a lot of time on two wheels, working as a rider was intensely physically challenging. To me it was a game, similar to interval training, a relentless stop start series of sprints across Toon, punctuated with entertaining encounters with customers.

We the public should probably accept that we need to pay a bit more for our deliveries to sustain a situation where the people serving us can earn a decent wage while complying with the law 

Back then, nearly all riders were on conventional unpowered bikes.  Many were young people from Eastern Europe, enjoying freedom of movement and earning some cash to allow them to stay in a vibrant UK city.  Others were Newcastle Students.  Some of them were the fittest people I’ve ever met, truly impressive.

Even then making over minimum wage was difficult. Riders compete against each other, with those completing jobs quickly being rewarded with more work.

Over the years I’ve gone back to riding, being paid to get fit, a couple of times. Most recently this saw me spending my 2022 “dry January” on a pedelec in North Tyneside, the suburban borough where, since 2024, I’m an elected Councillor. The more spread-out an area is, the more difficult it is to earn, even with the speed limited electric assist allowed by law.

The types of bikes being used now look very, very different. With changing patterns of migration since Brexit many Deliveroo Guys, Uber Eats Guys or Just Eat Guys, look different too.

As with other UK cities there are businesses in Newcastle selling or leasing unlawful higher-powered throttle controlled “e-bikes” specifically aimed at delivery riders. The tech companies taking your order have quietly profited from a system where it’s physically difficult to compete and earn a fair wage, except by attaching propulsion systems to bikes which aren’t lawful.

There’s another side to this as well, with businesses not only supplying powerful e-bikes or mopeds to riders but also renting Rider accounts registered with the “right to work in the UK”.  I don’t seem to be able to doomscroll Tiktok these days without being presented with activists videoing “migrants” heading off to work on two wheels.

Uninsured driving, riding and illegal modification of vehicles is a huge problem in 21st Century Britain.  As a Labour Councillor I stand up for the rule of law, fair wages and a sustainable economy.  The way the industry is now operating looks broken.

There’s examples out there of the police targeting delivery riders on unlawful bikes, which needs to happen, but at the same time can look a lot like targeting one of the most marginalised workforces in the UK.  There’s got to be a better way: personally I think this starts with these companies cleaning up their act.

Deliveroo always struck me as a good idea and the focus on bikes as delivery vehicles that the company has is fantastic.  Like most people, I’d far rather see deliveries made without putting more motor vehicles into residential areas. 

It’s not beyond the wit of man (or Artificial Intelligence) to put measures in place to make sure that the person delivering your food is also the person who’s registered on the app.  We need to enforce the law on unlawful higher powered e-bikes and also take unregistered uninsured motor vehicles off our streets.

In Britain we react against any hint of people jumping the queue or being seen to get away with breaking the rules.  The glacial pace of change in regulation of micromobility by the DfT has left a situation where the rules are often out of line with what many people are doing. Often people break the law without realising it. Businesses and individuals are disincentivised to invest in lawful equipment as there’s a perception that the rules may eventually change.

When things go wrong it’s often local authorities or local councillors who get it in the neck. I should be able to explain on the doorstep in a couple of sentences what the rules are, plus how they are fairly enforced. Without that the door is left wide open to those who want to claim that “others” are getting unfairly exempted.

There are more and more extremist voices in local and national politics desperate to link migration and unlawful behaviour. I see a real risk that rather than fair consistent enforcement of traffic law the police are pushed to pick easy targets. Delivery riders make very easy and very conspicuous targets.

We the public probably need to accept that we need to pay a bit more for our deliveries to sustain a situation where the people serving us can earn a decent wage while complying with the law. Both the tech companies and the government could be doing a lot more to sort out regulation and compliance.

My days chatting to the public wearing my Rider Cap are over as I now do a heck of a lot of extra miles both on foot and by bike campaigning and knocking on doors as a local Councillor. There are more similarities in the experiences than you’d expect.

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Tom Bailey is elected Labour Councillor for Tynemouth and also Managing Director of Transport Data Company Streets Systems