‘It’s hard to survive’: why UK private hire drivers are striking on Valentine’s Day

About 200 drivers got in touch with the Guardian to share their views on the industrial action

When Simon Waite began working as a private hire driver in 2017, it gave him the flexibility and income to spend time with his children, then aged five, 12 and 18. “One of the reasons I loved Uber was because I could now go to the school plays, my son’s football, I could earn my money around life,” he says.

But over the past few years, Waite, a 41-year-old in Hertfordshire, says he has to spend dramatically more time on the road to earn a living. To make £1,000 a week a couple of years ago it took about 50 hours, he says, whereas now it’s about 70 hours – with most drivers needing to pay insurance, tax, vehicle fees and upkeep, fuel, licenses, rent, bills and living costs.

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