An MP is urging a crackdown on the black market trading of fast food courier accounts after a Daily Record investigation.
Anne McLaughlin spoke out in the House of Commons after we exposed the number of accounts being openly rented out online. The trade in accounts for fast food delivery firms allows crooks to bypass security checks and can lead to immigrant workers becoming victims of modern slavery.
The rental of accounts can bring in more than £70 per week – all of which comes off the earnings of the delivery driver. During a debate in the Commons, Glasgow North East MP McLaughlin said: “The Daily Record has revealed that delivery drivers for Just Eat, Deliveroo and others ... are able to rent out their accounts.
"They are told that they are responsible for ensuring that the person they rent it out to is allowed to work and has passed basic health and safety checks and that is obviously not happening.
“People are having meals delivered and do not know if that person has passed the checks that they should have.
“Some of the workers renting those accounts are not allowed to work and are being exploited.”
Labour Home Office spokesman Stephen Kinnock said three existing enforcement agencies should be merged and there should be one labour market inspector for every 10,000 workers – doubling what is currently available.
He added: “Those would be major steps in the right direction.”
The Record found traders trying to rent out accounts for between £50 and £70. The fees bind workers to pay them out of hard earned wages.
It also makes it easy for criminals to go under the radar and deliver meals to people’s homes without passing checks.
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