Taxi drivers win payout over racial discrimination

The couple were licensed taxi drivers working in Basingstoke and Deane

Two black taxi drivers have been awarded hundreds of thousands of pounds after an employment tribunal found a council racially discriminated against them.

The man and woman, who are a couple and British nationals of Nigerian descent, were found to have been treated unfairly by Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council (BDBC) licensing officers.

The tribunal said the council's approach to the case, beyond making staff take equality training, was "shocking".

The council, which was told to pay £155,500 and £123,000 to the man and woman respectively, said it had apologised to the couple.

The tribunal found the man had been subjected to "severe stress" by the way he was dealt with by the council when "baseless allegations" were made against him.

It found the council's handling of the matters left him feeling "powerless and small".

The woman was a victim of "vitriolic and oppressive" questioning and was the subject of an "unfair investigation", it said.

Her resulting anxiety was at times "incapacitating" to the point where she could not work, the tribunal found.

The authority said the case was a "complex and long-running matter" but the tribunal said it felt the council's response had been insufficient.

It said the behaviour inflicted was "significant and long-term race discrimination against two of its licensed drivers, by a number of officers of the council, over a number of years".

The council had refused to acknowledge "any validity in many of the [couple's] grievances", it said.

"There is no apology or recognition by [the council] that this was anything other than a mistake," it added.

The couple previously alleged that they suffered discrimination in Reading following another incident in 2016.

A tribunal found in 2023 that the man had been treated differently because of his race in the town.

In a statement, a BDBC spokesperson said: "We fully considered the judgement and apologised to the drivers for the incidents, and our handling of them, that led to them feeling they needed to bring this action and the distress it caused them.

"We acknowledge the outcome of this remedy hearing and have fully complied with the ruling and the payment of compensation to the people involved.

"Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council is committed to upholding the highest standards in our operations.

"We are determined to ensure that lessons are learned and appropriate changes are being made."