Plummeting per-delivery pay in the gig economy is the root cause driving food delivery riders toward illegal, high-speed e-vehicles.
How dwindling gig economy pay drives the trade for illegal vehicles
Author: Mark Sutton | Published: Aug 11, 2026 | Source: Cycling Electric
Key Points
- Pay has cratered: Drop fees have fallen from ~£4 to under £3, sometimes as low as £2.83. Riders often make less than 50% of the London Living Wage (£14.80/hr).
- The algorithm punishes legal riders: Push bikes are deprioritised — you need at least an e-bike account to get consistent orders. Faster vehicle types reportedly unlock more orders.
- ~50% of seized vehicles are illegal: City of London Cycle Cops’ cage held 17 unregistered electric motorbikes. Brands like ENGWE and Fiido sell bikes with unlock codes to bypass speed limits.
- Cat-and-mouse modifications: Hidden controllers under food boxes, stealth buttons to revert to legal mode when police appear. Even rental e-bikes from Zoomo/Port are being modified.
- Immigration exploitation: The “substitute” account system lets account holders rent to people without the right to work in the UK, further depressing wages.
- Collateral damage to legitimate bike shops: 84% of the public can’t distinguish legal e-bikes from illegal ones → insurers hiking premiums, landlords banning e-bikes from buildings.
- No easy fix: Even subsidies for legal e-bikes wouldn’t solve it — “conversion kits are so cheap and the number of drops you need… a pedal assist bike is unlikely to cut it.”
- Deliveroo turned its first profit in 2024. None of the delivery companies responded for comment.
Why it matters:(AI) This is a structural story about how platform economics create perverse incentives. The delivery companies profit while externalising the costs — illegal vehicles, road danger, police resources, and damage to the legitimate e-bike industry. It’s also a lens on modern precarious work in UK cities: algorithmically managed, legally grey, and increasingly desperate.
it is unfortunate that this Cat and Mouse game with e-bike technology has arisen and the instigators of this - the food delivery companies seem to look the other way. would be interested to see more about how Solutions arise for helping workers and making large greedy organizations more accountable