"‘I wouldn’t wish this on anyone’: the food delivery riders living in ‘caravan shantytowns’ in Bristol,"

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It has become much harder for riders to make a living from food deliveries as they claim their earnings have not kept pace with price rises.

While the national living wage is £11.44 an hour, food delivery companies such as Deliveroo and Uber Eats do not formally employ their riders. Instead, they are gig economy workers, paid for each individual delivery. That means workers can end up earning far less than the minimum wage...

The riders look out for each other, as they say they receive little support from the platforms they log into every day. They protect mopeds, fix each other’s punctures and raise money for injured or sick workers. One compares the kerbside community to a union or “sindicato” and another to a favela – a working-class shantytown in Brazil.

Some still feel vulnerable to street violence. Lorena is scared anti-immigrant protesters may burn their homes. “We feel threatened,” she says...

On the other side of the road, another rider is getting ready to go out on his moped. Freitas, 32, is a qualified pharmacist in Brazil but delivers takeaways in the UK. Figures on his Uber Eats app show he was paid on average £3.43 a delivery. “I studied for five years. I wouldn’t like to tell my family what’s going on here,” he says.

He is desperate to move because his caravan has no power, no heating and nowhere to cook. The windows leak over his bed when it rains. “It is a struggle to live like this. You have to wrap yourself in a blanket at night,” he explains. “Many of the people who stay here end up having mental problems because they live in a small cube.”...

The Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain (IWGB) – which led the unsuccessful legal campaign to secure employment rights for riders – said the Bristol encampment was “emblematic of the misery mass-produced by the gig economy”. Maritza Castillo Calle, IWGB vice-president, accused delivery companies of slashing riders’ pay to push up their bottom line. “We must make no mistake that Deliveroo posted its first-ever profit last week as a direct result of its workers facing new depths of deprivation,” she says.

Deliveroo said it was “very concerned” about riders living in unsuitable conditions and would contact Bristol city council. A spokesperson added: “Deliveroo offers the flexible work riders tell us they want, attractive earning opportunities and protections including free insurance, sickness cover, financial support when riders become new parents and a range of training opportunities.”

Uber said Uber Eats offered a flexible way for thousands of couriers to earn money: “Couriers can access a range of protections, including on-trip insurance, when they work with us, and we regularly engage with couriers to look at how we can improve their experience.”

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