Uber is set to fork out a whopping $272 million to Australian taxi drivers in a historic world-first-class action settlement.
The US company has agreed to compensate taxi and hire car drivers, operators and licence holders after they lost income when Uber hit the Australian market.
Michael Donelly, Principal Lawyer at Maurice Blackburn Lawyers, who filed the 2019 class action, said the settlement comes after a gruelling five-year legal battle.
“Uber fought tooth and nail at every point along the way, every day, for the five years this has been on foot, trying at every turn to deny our group members any form of remedy or compensation for their losses,” Mr Donelly said in a statement.
“But on the courtroom steps and after years of refusing to do the right thing by those we say they harmed, Uber has blinked, and thousands of everyday Australians joined together to stare down a global giant.”
Mr Donelly said the class action settlement is the fifth largest in Australian legal history, “putting beyond any doubt that Uber has been held to account for its actions”.
“This case succeeded where so many others have failed. In Victoria, Queensland and Western Australia, cases were brought against governments and all of them failed,” he said.
“What our group members asked for was not another set of excuses – but an outcome – and today we have delivered it for them.”
In a statement to news.com.au, an Uber spokesperson said Uber is regulated across the country is recognised by governments as an “important part of the nation’s transport mix”.
“When Uber started more than a decade ago, ridesharing regulations did not exist anywhere in the world, let alone Australia. Today is different, and Uber is now regulated in every state and territory across Australia,” the statement read.
“The rise of ridesharing has grown Australia’s overall point-to-point transport industry, bringing with it greater choice and improved experiences for consumers, as well as new earnings opportunities for hundreds of thousands of Australian workers.
“Since 2018, Uber has made significant contributions into various state-level taxi compensation schemes, and with today’s proposed settlement, we put these legacy issues firmly in our past. We will continue focusing on helping the millions of Australians who use Uber get from A to B in a safe, affordable and reliable manner.”
Melbourne taxi driver, Nikos Andrianakis, was the chief plaintiff in the class action, which grew to include 8000 taxi and chartered drives.
Mr Andrianakis previously told the ABC he was forced out of business after Uber surged in Australia, claiming the US company “came to our shores illegally, like pirates (and) they broke every law, every regulation”.
He told the publication he walked away from the job after working on a Friday night in Melbourne following an MCG game.
“I was outside the Swan Hotel and, normally, this is a very busy time for taxis,” he said.
“I saw Ubers picking up and dropping off. Picking up and dropping off. I must have been there about an hour.
“My back door finally opened and a young lady got in and she said ‘look, I’m sorry driver, I’m not going far’ … I said ‘that’s OK, you got in my cab I’ll take you anywhere you like’.”
“She said, ‘I would have got an Uber, but my phone’s gone flat’. And that was like a stake in my heart.”
That night, he said he rang his wife, telling her “the taxis are finished”.
Mr Donelly said Maurice Blackburn Lawyers are “extremely proud that thousands of people put their faith in us and Nick Andrianakis and allowed us to do what we do best – holding to account major organisations that we say inflicted mass wrongs on people.”
He added the $271.8 million payout will “finally put real money back into the accounts of people who have been devastated”.
The Supreme Court of Victoria is expected to sit on Monday morning to close out the case.
It comes amid controversy about “cowboy” cab drivers in Victoria being caught flouting new state laws requiring them to turn on meters for unbooked trips and hailed rides.
A NCA Newswire investigation found 90 per cent of cab drivers surveyed charged upfront costs and said they would not use the meter or refused service for what they considered was a short trip.
Twenty cabs were approached at the Crown Casino, Commercial Rd, Flinders St Station and Southern Cross Station taxi ranks at various times between December 13 and 18.
Some drivers from the Crown Casino taxi rank were demanding prices as high as $100 for a trip to South Melbourne early on Sunday.
Outside clubs along Commercial Rd, some drivers were seen misleading customers by suggesting they offered a “fixed fare” or “prepaid” service only.
“The meter does not have to be running,” one cab driver told NCA Newswire.
However, drivers choosing not to use the meter for trips are in breach of new rules that came into effect on September 28 last year.
Victorian Taxi Association director Peter Valentine said cab drivers were totally aware of the rule changes enforced this year, but he found they were “refusing to be compliant”.
Since the deregulation of the Victorian taxi industry in 2017, and following the Covid-19 lockdown years, Mr Valentine said cab drivers had formed their own self-serving lifestyles, going in and out of shifts whenever they wanted.
“They are going to flout the law until they get caught,” he said.