https://www.thesun.ie/news/5798723/taxi-app-free-now-finally-pays-thousands-of-drivers-after-two-week-payment-delay/TAXING TIMES Taxi app Free Now finally pays thousands of drivers after two-week payment delayCraig Farrell
19 Aug 2020, 7:15
TAXI app Free Now finally paid thousands of drivers yesterday after a two-week delay in making payments.
Up to 14,000 cabbies had been left unpaid as a result of an issue with the firm’s payments processor, with some full-time taxi drivers estimated to be owed as much as €1,000.
Journeys passengers put on their card through the app are normally paid out once a week, but Free Now had missed four deadlines over the past fortnight.
Fianna Fail TD Cormac Devlin contacted Transport Minister Eamon Ryan about the issue on Monday, and called on him to direct the National Transport Authority to get involved in the issue.
He also said “new legislation may be required to ensure companies with the market share of Free Now have adequate liquidity and are properly bonded to ensure drivers’ funds are secure”.
PAYMENT DELAYSThe taxi app, owned by BMW and Daimler, yesterday confirmed they have changed their payment providers and the two delayed payments have now been completed. They also gave a 20 per cent top-up bonus to drivers as a goodwill gesture.
A Free Now spokesperson said: “We are pleased that two payments have been made to drivers.
"This includes the delayed payment from last week (via our original payment provider) and the payment for this week (via a different payment provider), which was paid a day early.
“This also includes the 20 per cent top up bonus we implemented over the weekend as a goodwill gesture to drivers. We have been in close communication with affected drivers over the past few days and have worked hard to resolve this issue.
"Again, we thank drivers for their patience and understanding over the past few days.”
'DEEPLY UNSATISFACTORY'They added: “Free Now has a strong financial infrastructure which enabled us to act quickly and implement the payment through another provider as soon as it was apparent there was a further delay.
“Of course, it is deeply unsatisfactory that this issue arose, we have changed our payment provider to ensure this doesn’t happen again.”
Deputy Devlin welcomed the payments but said he believed the Government still needed to put a system is in place to stop this occurring again.
He added: “I hope that there’s no further delay for drivers in getting paid for the work that they’ve already done.
"However, I still think that the NTA need to be given responsibility, hence my communication to the Minister.
“The substantive point for my communication with the Minister was, given the fact that they are a quasi-monopoly, there should be an investigation.
And there should be a mechanism through the NTA whereby they would have the power to intervene in a scenario if this were ever to arise again.”
The TD continued: “I certainly think that this has exposed a situation where there needs to be a system put in place should this or another type of issue arise. There has to be some mechanism for drivers because this has exposed their fragility.
“And I think this mechanism needs to be established and established quickly.”
