24 February 2023 , 15:54
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A heartless customer "stepped over" a Deliveroo driver who had collapsed on the street trying to bring their food.
The driver, who has only been identified by Mohamed, was trying to complete a delivery on his bicycle last night to a luxury flat building when he didn't make it inside.
Heroic bystanders tried to keep him warm as Mohamed went in and out of consciousness.
However, while waiting for an ambulance for Mohamed, the customer who had been waiting for their delivery came outside to look for it.
A separate delivery driver who was there handed the food over before the customers tried to ask Mohamed questions about their order.
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James Farrar, the general secretary of the App Drivers and Couriers Union, happened to be walking by as Mohamed collapsed.
Mr Farrar told the Mirror he intervened when the customers started asking barely conscious Mohamed questions.
Mohamed collapsed outside a building he was trying to deliver a meal at (jamesfarrar/Twitter)
Bystanders tried to wrap Mohamed in a silver foil blanker (jamesfarrar/Twitter)He said: "People came down to enquire about their food and he had the app open on his phone.
"Another delivery driver came by and he took the app and it was just pinging for this delivery.
"He swiped it was delivered for Mohamed and gave the people their food.
"And they wanted to have a conversation about what might have been missing and I said 'are you joking? do you have no humanity?'
"And they were like 'oh ok' and stepped over him and went upstairs with their food."
This is the moment the customers retrieve the food (jamesfarrar/Twitter)
Mohamed remains in hospital as of Friday afternoon (jamesfarrar/Twitter)Mr Farrar says he's in contact with Mohamed's family and says he remains seriously ill in the hospital.
He said last night's events outside Meranti House in East London, where flats sell for nearly £1million, showed a "bleak London".
He also said that when he tried to contact Deliveroo himself he was given a chatbot to speak to and then sent a feedback survey.
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A Deliveroo spokesperson said they had been in contact with the rider to offer support.
Speaking today, Mr Farrar said: "It's a level of dissonance that is quite bizarre.
"The reflection I have was it was just a brutal reality of exploitation of these fast delivery services.
"This technology works lovely but the worker has become dehumanised and I think the consumer has become dehumanised too.
"Workers are because they are part of the delivery machine, they are a unit of production, they don't have a human relationship with them.
"They don't see them as employees because they are not psychologically set up to accept them as human and they have a responsibility for them."
The lobby of Meranti House in East London (jamesfarrar/Twitter)
Mohamed was making deliveries on his bike (jamesfarrar/Twitter)Mr Farrar said: "I work close by I just walked by as this was happening so he had his bicycle with him and he hadn't made it to the door and collapsed outside.
"People came from the bar next door and none of us really knew what was wrong with him and it could have been anything.
"Somebody brought a sweet drink from the bar in case he needed sugar or was dehydrated."
He said the security guards at the Meranti building in East London at first refused to let him inside.
However, after wrapping Mohamed in a foil blanket and asking a second time they agreed to let him sit on the sofa.
The ambulance took about an hour to arrive and during that time Mr Farrar was able to contact Mohamed's wife and brother-in-law who raced to the building.
Mr Farrar said while Mohamed was barely conscious the app on his phone kept pinging before another delivery driver marked the order as delivered in the app.
Despite being appalled at the customer's behaviour, Mr Farrar says he doesn't believe they are bad people.
He said: "I can't believe the people who ordered the food are fundamentally bad people but through this process, they have become desensitised to this themselves and that is sad to see."
Overall, Mr Farrar said last night exposed three things: the pressure of public services in how long it took for the ambulance to come, the lack of safety features in the Deliveroo app because it couldn't register a motionless driver as something to flag, and having all this happen outside luxury building and still being asked to be let in.
He said this combined with the how these big companies exploit their workers can "make London seem like a pretty hostile place".
He hailed the group of people who kept him warm, got him juice to drink and tried to keep him conscious.
He said: "The young people who were down on the ground doing stuff and trying to make him comfortable those are the brave Londoners, but London was bleak last night.
"Someone will always step in because people are good, but the system is rotten.
"The delivery system is rotten, we have to hold these systems accountable because they are run by incredibly wealthy people that have a responsibility.
"Our union represents Deliveroo drivers - this is important to Mohamed but to all Deliveroo drivers."
A Deliveroo spokesperson said they have a rider support system that is always available and they offer the safety app 'Flare' for free for all riders.
They added that since 2018, Deliveroo provides riders with free accident insurance and recently extended earnings support for riders who are unwell and unable to work.
A Deliveroo spokesperson told the Mirror: “We were all deeply concerned by this incident and have spoken to the rider’s family to offer our support.
"Riders are at the very heart of our business and their safety and well-being is our absolute priority.”