A black-market trade in delivery app accounts allows underage teenagers to sign up as riders, the BBC has found. The family of a 17-year-old who died while working as a Deliveroo rider - despite 18 being the minimum age - say the company is "unaccountable". The Home Office is urging Deliveroo, Just Eat and Uber Eats to reform policies that let riders lend accounts to others, known as "substitution".
The BBC's investigation found substitution fuels an online trade in accounts, including potentially to children. Riders who sign up to work for the big food delivery apps have to pass background checks. They must verify their age, that they have no convictions and that they are allowed to work in the UK. But once verified, a rider is permitted to lend their account to another person to work instead of them. It is the duty of the original account holder - not the app they work for - to check that their "substitute" meets the legal criteria to work.Leo was just 15 when he first rented his Deliveroo account from a man in the town where he live