Uber’s new app allows drivers to charge for wait

♦ Uber is adding a tips button to its ride-hailing app and allowing drivers to charge 20p a minute for waiting more than two minutes. The changes are part of a host of updates designed to improve its troubled relationship with drivers and will increase fares.

Uber has struggled to maintain good relations with its UK drivers, who have complained about job security and poor pay. From next Tuesday, it is reducing the free cancellation time from five minutes to two, and adding a “no thanks” button so drivers can refuse trips.

But the Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain said the changes do not go far enough. “Despite its claims, Uber remains completely deaf to the most serious issues facing drivers: excessively long hours earning on average between £5 and £6 per hour,” said James Farrar, from the union.

“If Uber was more concerned about driver welfare than it is with propping up its own dreadful reputation, it would have… guaranteed drivers a minimum wage and holiday pay.”