Innovate Transport UK Ltd

Case Summary

The claimant, a delivery driver, claimed unlawful deduction from wages on the basis he was a worker entitled to £230 plus VAT per day, but was only paid £1426.32. The tribunal found the claimant was not a worker but a sub-contractor and that the payment of £1426.32 was correct based on a per-drop rate of £2.30, not a daily rate. Both claims for unlawful deduction and compensation were dismissed as not well founded.

The tribunal found the claimant was a sub-contractor, not a worker, as the job advertisement clearly specified a per-drop rate of £2.30 (not a daily rate of £230), the claimant owned his own van and invoiced the respondent as a business, and the claimant was evasive and inconsistent in evidence while the respondent's witness was credible and consistent with documentary evidence.

• •whether claimant was a worker or sub-contractor
• •whether claimant was entitled to daily rate of £230 plus VAT or per-drop rate of £2.30
• •whether unlawful deduction from wages occurred
• •whether claimant was entitled to £80 payment for training day on 16 January 2025

1 EMPLOYMENT TRIBUNALS Claimant: Syed Khalil Respondent: Innovate Transport UK Ltd Heard at: Watford Employment Tribunal (in person) On: 27 March 2026 Before: Employment Judge L Wilson (sitting alone) Appearances: For the Claimant: In person For the Respondent: Satpual Boparai RESERVED JUDGMENT 1. The claimant was not a worker. 2. The claim for unlawful deduction from wages is not well founded and fails. 3. The claim for compensation is not well founded and fails. REASONS Claims and Issues 1. The claimant commenced early conciliation on 9 February 2025 and the early conciliation certificate was issued on 25 February 2025. The ET1 claim was presented in the Watford Employment Tribunal on 17 March 2025. The claimant brought claims for unlawful deductions from wages plus compensation and sought a declaration that he was a worker or employee. An ET3 response was received on 14 April 2025. The case was listed for final hearing, initially in December 2025 but this was postponed at the Claimant’s request until 27 March 2026 before a Judge sitting alone. 2 2. The amount requested by the claimant is £1057.68 in unpaid wages plus compensation. 3. Both parties agree that the respondent paid the claimant £1426.32. Proceedings and Record of Hearing 4. No Preliminary Hearing took place, but the parties were ordered to comply with various case management directions in the Written Orders dated 30 June 2025. 5. As well as the claim form, the claimant sent the Tribunal three sets of PDF documents, totalling 161 pages. Some of these are duplicates. They are not sequentially paginated so references to pages will specify whether it is Claimant Bundle 1 (42 pages), Claimant Bundle 2 (28 pages) or Claimant Bundle 3 (91 pages). 6. The respondent sent the Tribunal a document consisting of 20 pages in total (‘Respondent Bundle’). Unfortunately,…