Author: Robert Booth / Source: the Guardian

Minicab drivers are launching a legal action against the London mayor, Sadiq Khan, accusing him of discrimination against a largely ethnic minority workforce by making them pay the congestion charge while black cab drivers, who are overwhelmingly white, will be exempt.

Khan oversees Transport for London (TfL), which is planning to levy a £12.50 ultra-low emission zone (ULEZ) charge to drive in the city centre from 8 April as “a key part of our plans to both reduce congestion and to protect Londoners from harmful emissions”. But the Independent Workers Union of Great Britain (IWGB), which represents many Uber drivers and other gig economy workers, claims it amounts to indirect discrimination and violates the human rights of its members.

Until now, minicabs and black cabs have been exempt from the existing £11.50 congestion charge. When the ULEZ charge is levied, the cost to about 18,000 minicab drivers estimated by City Hall to carry passengers in central London each day is likely to be more than £1.4m a week.

It could push down earnings for Uber drivers, which have been estimated by academics at about £11 per hour, by about 13% over an eight-hour shift. Many drivers say they already earn less than the London living wage of £10.55 per hour.

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