The food delivery world is open to a range of abuses.
These can bring potential danger to the doorstep of every customer who buys a home delivery meal. And the increasing malpractice around rented-out accounts also leaves the drivers open to exploitation, including modern slavery for desperate immigrants.
The Daily Record today tells how accounts for Uber Eats, Just Eat and Deliveroo are being rented out for about £70 a week. Big courier companies merely sit back and tell us that the use of substitute drivers is the legal right of all couriers, as long as they personally ensure the stand-in is vetted.
Well, there’s a fat chance of that.
Who is going to rent out a dodgy account for £70 a week then ask their victim to apply for a disclosure check?
And what person in their right mind would pay money to a crook when they could just sign up for their own account for free?
It’s bonkers, of course, because the only people renting accounts are those who know they can’t pass the disclosure tests.
It is a dereliction of duty by the courier firms, who bleat that the courts have established a legal right for substitution of deliveries to other drivers.
They have a moral responsibility to check every substitute driver is fit and proper to take deliveries to people’s homes.
The UK Government should take another look at this murky field, with a specific eye on the abusive rental of accounts – a red beacon that crime could be taking place.
And it should force the big companies to make sure they know exactly who the driver is on every delivery to every home.
Junk the junkets
Acting Finance Secretary John Swinney was correct to say the pressure on the Government’s budget is without precedent.
Inflation and public sector pay rises mean he has had to find £1.2billion of savings to fill a funding black hole.
Shuffling £400million from one part of the health and social care budget to another was announced, as were raids to other areas.
Difficult times like these require discipline from the Government in ensuring public money is properly spent.
However, spending £6000 on a staff away day which focused on “screen break” tips does not meet this test. Winter wellbeing advice which came out of the meeting included cuddling pets and dancing.
Supporting staff is always welcome, but this advice did not require the staging of a £6000 away day.
Cracking down on pointless spending when family budgets are under attack is essential for Swinney and his colleagues.
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