Skip to main content
‘It’s their word against the rider’s – and the companies always side with the riders’
JANE WRIGHT talks to App Drivers and Couriers Union members and activists about their experience of biased apps, sexist customers and lack of toilet facilities while driving the streets of Britain’s cities
Cristina-Georgiana Ioanitescu, professional chauffeur and president of the App Drivers and Couriers Union

IF YOU’RE out and about in one of Britain’s cities today, International Women’s Day, and need to hail a cab to get home, be especially nice to your driver if she happens to be female.

She’s almost certainly had a rough day. 

It’s fair to say, however, that as chances go, encountering a female driver is one of the slimmest. That’s because most women end up leaving the profession due to safety concerns, because they’re paid less than men, and because the app-based companies they work for are doing nothing to protect them.

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
Similar stories
THE GREAT ILLUSIONIST: Scotland First Minister John Swinney (centre) with assorted worthies at Wheatley Housing Development in Wallyford, East Lothian, apparently keen on accelerating housebuilding throughout Scotland, January 2026
Holyrood / 6 May 2026
6 May 2026

As Scotland heads to the polls, the main parties offer variations on the same script, says MATT KERR

Gisele Pelicot presents the German edition of her memoir, 'A Hymn for Life', in Hamburg, Germany, Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2026
International Women’s Day 2026 / 7 March 2026
7 March 2026

Gisele Pelicot said ‘shame must change sides.’ We may think we agree, but, argues LOUISE RAW, society still has some way to go

International Women’s Day 2026
International Women’s Day 2026 / 7 March 2026
7 March 2026

Half a century after transformative laws reshaped Britain, women’s rights are again contested. This International Women’s Day is a call to remember how change was won, and to organise to defend it, says KATE RAMSDEN

Train drivers from the Aslef union on the picket line at Euston station in London, as they are launching a wave of fresh walkouts in a long-running dispute over pay. Train drivers at 16 rail companies are holding a rolling programme of one-day walkouts between April 5 and 8, coupled with a six-day ban on overtime. Picture date: Friday April 5, 2024
TUC Congress 2025 / 8 September 2025
8 September 2025

On the eve of the 157th Trades Union Congress, MICK WHELAN, general secretary of Aslef, the train drivers’ union, celebrates victory in his campaign to get dignity for drivers at work