Female gig worker safety and harassment

Summary

Women and non-binary gig workers in the UK face a mix of customer harassment, stalking, sexual comments, unsafe pickups, false complaints and poor platform follow-up, and the support that exists is patchy. Uber currently has the most visible public safety and partner messaging, Deliveroo has rider harassment reporting guidance, and Amazon Flex appears much thinner in public-facing UK safety support for harassment cases, which is itself a problem. GigKiln should signpost real safeguarding partners such as Rights of Women, The Survivors Trust, Hestia, Woman's Trust and local women's centres, and give workers a printable safety plan instead of a vague "contact support" flow.

Key facts (UK 2025 to 26)

Unionised ride-hailing drivers in 2025 said safety demands included passenger ID verification, complaint tracking and better support for assault victims, showing that driver safety is still not fixed after years of platform promises.

Computer Weekly reported in February 2025 that IWGB drivers said Uber, Bolt and Addison Lee drivers were demanding stronger safety protections, and that Bolt still had not met safety demands after driver Gabriel Bringye was killed by a passenger in Tottenham in February 2021.

Uber's UK women's safety pages say Uber funded support through Hestia and worked with The Survivors Trust on safety education and trauma-informed responses, including education completed by more than 25,000 drivers.

Deliveroo's UK rider support pages have a specific harassment and discrimination reporting route for riders, which is better than nothing but still leaves the worker dependent on the platform's own process.

Public UK-facing Amazon Flex harassment support is much harder to find than Uber or Deliveroo safety content, which suggests a weaker public signposting position for drivers dealing with abuse.

The Worker Protection Act changes that took effect in October 2024 strengthened duties to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment, but many gig workers still sit in the awkward zone where platforms argue they are not conventional employees while still controlling a lot of the work.

The Survivors Trust offers employer-facing trauma-informed training and a quality mark on handling disclosures of abuse, which could be relevant if GigKiln wants external training or referral partners rather than trying to invent its own safeguarding system.

Woman's Trust provides free counselling and therapy for women affected by domestic abuse or abusive relationships, and can be part of a signposting chain where harassment at work overlaps with wider abuse or stalking.

Legislation, case law, regulation

The Worker Protection Act 2023, which amended the Equality Act 2010 and came into force in October 2024, created a duty on employers to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment, with tribunals able to increase compensation by up to 25% for breach.

Equality Act 2010 protections around harassment still matter, but platforms often fight over employment status, which makes practical enforcement harder for gig workers than for standard employees.

Uber BV v Aslam [2021] UKSC 5 remains the core authority showing that platforms can be workers' employers for legal purposes despite contractual wording, which matters when discussing safety responsibilities.

Police emergency and non-emergency reporting routes remain 999 for immediate danger and 101 for non-emergency reporting, though women's real-world experience often depends heavily on local response quality rather than the formal route itself.

How it actually works

The harassment risks are different depending on the app and the type of work, but the patterns repeat.

For female and non-binary Uber drivers, the big risks are sexual comments, passengers refusing to leave the vehicle, stalking after a trip, requests for personal numbers, false complaints after rejecting a passenger, and fear around late-night pickups. Union demands for passenger ID verification and complaint tracking exist because drivers say platforms still too often side with the customer or leave drivers in the dark after a report.

For Deliveroo riders, harassment often happens in public. That can mean abuse from customers at the door, sexual comments in the street, staff at restaurants behaving badly, or intimidation while waiting around pickup spots. Deliveroo's own rider support page has a harassment and discrimination route, which at least means the issue is recognised inside the support system.

For Amazon Flex workers, public UK support material is much thinner. That does not mean the problem is smaller. It means the worker is more likely to be left piecing together help from police, general support services and legal advice, rather than having a clear app-based harassment route.

If something happens, the worker usually has three immediate routes.

Platform report. Uber and Deliveroo both provide in-app support and safety reporting routes. Uber also talks publicly about partnerships, training and respectful-conduct policies.

Police report. Use 999 if you are in immediate danger or have just been assaulted. Use 101 for non-emergency reporting, for example stalking, ongoing harassment or follow-up evidence after the immediate risk has passed.

Specialist support. This is the bit workers often miss. A platform complaint is not emotional support, legal advice or safeguarding. That is where services like Rights of Women, The Survivors Trust, Hestia, Woman's Trust and local women's centres come in.

From a worker's point of view, the worst gap is not "no button exists". It is what happens after the button. Many workers report poor follow-up, no clear complaint timeline, and fear that reporting abuse will simply trigger a deactivation dispute or an income gap. That is why GigKiln should signpost external partners, not just the platform's own support process.

Realistic safeguarding partners for GigKiln to signpost

Rights of Women, for legal information and advice for women on harassment, violence and employment-related problems.

The Survivors Trust, for national specialist sexual-violence support and trauma-informed employer training.

Hestia, especially in London and the South East, because Uber's UK work already names Hestia as a support partner and it has real domestic-abuse service infrastructure.

Woman's Trust, for free counselling and therapy for women affected by abuse.

Local women's centres and rape crisis services, which are often better than a national platform support form when a worker needs face-to-face help.

Template safety plan

GigKiln could publish a simple printable or saveable plan like this:

My high-risk times: late nights, airport jobs, isolated drop-offs, certain postcodes.

My hard rules: no sharing my personal number, doors locked until passenger identity is clear, end the job if I feel unsafe.

My emergency actions: 999 if immediate danger, trusted contact on speed dial, share trip or live location if the app allows.

My evidence steps: screenshots, trip ID, customer name if shown, time, location, vehicle reg, witness details.

My report route: app report first if safe, then police, then specialist support.

My support contacts: one friend, one union contact, one specialist service, one local women's support service.

Worked example

Take a 19 year old Deliveroo rider on an e-bike earning about £180 a week. She is waiting outside a restaurant on a Friday night and a man starts making sexual comments, then follows her for two streets after pickup. She gets away, but he knows the area she usually works.

The bad response would be to shrug it off, keep riding, and tell nobody because she needs the money. That is how repeated harassment becomes normal.

The safer response is: move to a busy, lit place, call 999 if she feels in immediate danger, and save the time, place, order details and any description straight away. She should also report the incident through Deliveroo's harassment route and keep screenshots of every contact with support. If she feels shaken, or if the harassment is part of a wider abuse pattern, GigKiln should point her to a specialist service like The Survivors Trust or a local women's centre, not leave her with a generic FAQ.

Now take a female Uber driver in Birmingham. A passenger makes sexual remarks, refuses to leave promptly and later files a false complaint after she reports him. Union demands for complaint tracking matter here because drivers say platforms often fail to show what happened after a report and can appear to trust the customer first. In that situation, her evidence, trip ID, exact timings, app messages, dashcam footage if lawful, and whether she called police, becomes critical. Uber's safety tools and partnerships matter, but so does outside support if the platform response is poor.

What Reddit, TikTok and forums get wrong

Misinformation: "If you report harassment to the app, that is enough." Correction: platform reporting is only one step. Workers may also need police reporting, union help and specialist support because app support is not trauma support and does not guarantee a proper investigation.

Misinformation: "999 is only for murders and obvious emergencies, otherwise never bother." Correction: 999 is for immediate danger, including an assault in progress, active stalking or being trapped with an abusive passenger. 101 is for non-emergency reporting when the immediate danger has passed.

Misinformation: "Safety problems are individual bad luck, not a platform issue." Correction: IWGB driver demands for passenger ID verification, complaint tracking and assault support show this is a repeated structural problem, not just isolated incidents.

Action steps for the reader

Save your emergency contacts and decide now what counts as a "leave immediately" situation, do not try to invent your rules mid-incident.

If you are in immediate danger, call 999. If not, record the facts and report through 101 as well as the app where appropriate.

Use the app's harassment or safety route, but keep your own screenshots and notes because platform support records are not under your control.

If the incident involves sexual harassment, stalking, coercion or domestic abuse overlap, contact a specialist service such as Rights of Women, The Survivors Trust, Hestia, Woman's Trust or a local women's centre.

If you are in a union, tell them too. IWGB and ADCU have both pushed safety demands in public campaigns, and a union trail can help if the platform later tries to ignore or bury the complaint.

Related tools GigKiln should build

Printable one-page safety plan for women and non-binary workers, with emergency contacts and evidence prompts.

Harassment evidence log with date, trip or order ID, screenshots, witnesses and police reference fields.

"Who do I contact now?" decision tool, 999, 101, app support, union, specialist support.

Local support finder that filters national and city-level women's services by phone, webchat and opening hours.

Related guides

"Harassed while driving or delivering, what to do in the first hour."

"999 or 101, when gig workers should call the police."

"Platform safety tools for Uber, Deliveroo and Amazon Flex, what they do and what they do not do."

"How to report harassment without losing the evidence."

Sources

Uber, "Women's Safety", published 15 September 2025, accessed 19 April 2026.

Uber, "Safety Resources for Uber Drivers in the UK", published 7 March 2023, accessed 19 April 2026.

The Survivors Trust, "We partnered for safety: How Uber took the initiative to support victims and survivors of sexual assault and abuse", published 13 January 2026, accessed 19 April 2026.

The Survivors Trust, "Employers Against Abuse", published 13 January 2026, accessed 19 April 2026.

The Survivors Trust, "Responding to allegations of sexual harassment and ensuring compliance to new legislation", published 2 December 2025, accessed 19 April 2026.

Deliveroo Riders, "Harassment and discrimination", accessed 19 April 2026.

BBC News, "Uber and Bolt drivers strike on Valentine's Day", published 14 February 2025, accessed 19 April 2026.

Computer Weekly, "Unionised drivers to stage ride-hailing app strike", published 10 February 2025, accessed 19 April 2026.

Woman's Trust, home page and service information, accessed 19 April 2026.

Uber, "Uber and UK Says No More: preventing violence against women", published 24 September 2025, accessed 19 April 2026.