Hundreds of “workers” join BCA dispute over pay

BCA is under pressure to treat its drivers as employees after 800 gig economy staff joined a legal action against the remarketing company to demand better rights.

The business uses 1,200 “self-employed” drivers who are responsible for inspecting and transporting cars to destinations across the UK, including to auction hubs owned by BCA, according to Leigh Day.

The legal firm says that BCA classes many of their drivers as self-employed independent contractors, which means they are not entitled to holiday pay and the national minimum wage. 

Leigh Day believes that, because of the level of control the company has over these drivers, including obligating them to work between three and five days a week, they should be classed as workers and given the rights this status affords.

In December 2023, the Employment Appeal Tribunal decided that BCA’s appeal of an earlier ruling by the Employment Tribunal that drivers should be classed as workers had “no reasonable grounds”.

In the original decision in May 2023, the Employment Tribunal found the written contract did not genuinely reflect the actual agreement between the parties; there was a risk of punishment if the drivers did not work when expected; pay was set by BCA and was non-negotiable; and the drivers were specifically recruited by BCA to work as an integral part of its operations. They were not carrying on business on their own account.

Gabriel Morrison, a solicitor in the employment team at Leigh Day, said: “BCA has been unsuccessful in disputing these claims at every stage so far.

“At the Employment Tribunal, the judge was unequivocal in finding that our clients were workers for BCA, specifically noting that he “did not think this was an uncertain, marginal or borderline case”.

“Despite this, BCA continue to adopt their gig economy model in the face of this judgment, denying our clients the basic rights that they are entitled to.

“Leigh Day is confident that the courts will continue to agree with our position, and that of our 800 clients, that they are workers, and their pay should reflect this.”

Leigh Day published details from Ian Williams, who said he had worked for BCA since August 2020, with his working day routinely lasting for 14 hours.

It said that he receives £20 per job with an additional £8 if an inspection is required.

If the job is more than 60 miles away, he is paid 20p per additional mile, said Leigh Day. He does not receive holiday pay for any time he takes off and calculates that his pay regularly falls below the current national minimum wage of £10.42 an hour.

The driver labelled conditions as “appalling”. “When we appraise or inspect a vehicle, we have no control over how much the customer is quoted but not all customers understand that and believe that I am personally responsible for the bill which puts me in the firing line for their frustrations,” he told Leigh Day.

“I live in Kent but we work across the country which means we can end up doing jobs as far as Glasgow, but we don’t get paid for the hours we are travelling. I usually work with a runner driver who takes me to and from jobs, as well as a couple of other drivers at the same time.

“Just a few weeks ago, I had to travel four hours from one drop off to my next collection and I was trapped in the runner car all that time earning nothing.

“From speaking to others that work for BCA, I know that my feelings about working conditions, pay and long hours are shared.”

BCA, owned by Constellation Automotive Group which also operates Webuyanycar.com and Cinch, declined to comment.

Leigh Day is also bringing claims against private hire companies Addison Lee, Veezu, FreeNow, Ola and Bolt who claim their drivers are self-employed independent contractors and so are not entitled to worker’s rights.