HIDDEN IDENTITIES & SAFEGUARDING FAILURES

For a long time, Deliveroo showed customers and restaurants a photo of the courier’s face. At least you could check that the person at the counter or door matched the profile on the app.

That system disappeared. Now, you usually see just a first name and a vehicle type — no face, no confirmation, no real identity check at the door or counter.

The reason is simple: illegal account sharing became so widespread that the photo system stopped working. Too many riders were using someone else’s account. Instead of fixing the root problem, the facial safety feature was quietly removed.

WHAT THIS MEANS INSIDE YOUR BUSINESS

• You often do not know who is actually entering your kitchen or service area.
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• If behaviour is inappropriate, you cannot truly identify or block the real rider.
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• Complaints remove the account holder, not necessarily the person who caused the problem.
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In one real case, a courier secretly zoomed in and took a photo of a female member of staff from behind while she was preparing food. With a hidden identity, there is no real accountability for behaviour like this.

HOW WE-COLLECT FIXES IDENTITY & SAFEGUARDING

WE-COLLECT only works with couriers who are who they say they are — every single shift.

• Every courier is interviewed face-to-face and fully ID-checked before they ever deliver for you.
• Right-to-work and insurance verified continuously.
• DBS and safeguarding checks for higher-risk businesses.
• You know exactly who is delivering your food.

ABUSE, RUDENESS & DAILY TENSION FOR STAFF

Many staff working in takeaways and restaurants now expect some level of rudeness from couriers. Shouting, swearing, blaming the kitchen for delays, demanding orders before they are ready — this has become a daily reality.

When riders use fake or borrowed profiles, they feel untouchable. If they are removed from one account, they simply use another. Your team gets the attitude; the platform avoids the responsibility.

THE IMPACT ON YOUR TEAM

• Staff develop a “thick skin” just to get through the shift.
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• Respect for riders drops, even towards the good ones.
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• The atmosphere at the counter and collection point becomes tense and hostile.
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This is not what professional hospitality should feel like — but it has become the norm under the current delivery model.

HOW WE-COLLECT PROTECTS YOUR STAFF

WE-COLLECT couriers are treated as professionals — and are expected to behave like professionals. We do not tolerate abuse towards kitchen or front-of-house staff.

• Every courier signs a strict code of conduct before they start.
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• We train riders on how to communicate with busy kitchens and stressed customers calmly.
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• Senior couriers act as on-the-road supervisors and “spotters”, watching how riders behave in the real world.
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• Zero-tolerance policy for harassment, shouting, or intimidation — one serious incident can mean removal.
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Because we pay fairly and avoid overloading riders with unrealistic targets, our couriers are under less pressure — which means fewer flashpoints at your counter.

ILLEGAL ACCOUNTS, BIOMETRICS & LOOPHOLES

Only recently, under pressure from the UK Government, have major platforms started using biometric face checks in their apps. On paper, that sounds like progress. In practice, it does not stop illegal account use.

If an account holder is renting out their profile, an illegal rider can simply pause work, ride back to the genuine account owner, let them scan their face, and then continue delivering under that identity. The app sees a valid scan; the real rider never touches the food.

WHAT THIS MEANS FOR SAFETY & REPUTATION

• Illegal riders can still operate for long periods without being identified.
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• Customers may be visited more than once by someone who knows their address.
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• If something goes wrong, your restaurant’s name is attached to an unknown person’s behaviour.
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These platforms have been trading for many years — Just Eat since 2001, Deliveroo since 2013, Uber Eats since 2014 — yet only now have they started patching in partial identity checks that can still be worked around.

HOW WE-COLLECT CLOSES THE LOOPHOLES

WE-COLLECT is built to stop account renting and ghost riders from day one — not years later. Our system is designed around people we actually know, not just profiles on a screen.

• No account sharing: contracts and live monitoring make it clear that profiles cannot be rented or lent.
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• Local couriers only: we work with riders we can meet, train and physically spot-check in Brighton.
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• Senior couriers and managers carry out real-world ID checks on the road and at collection points.
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• Businesses and customers have a direct line to WE-COLLECT if anything feels unsafe or suspicious.
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If there is any doubt about who is using an account, we pause that courier immediately and investigate before they handle any more orders. We do not wait for the system to catch up — we act first.

THIS IS THE INDUSTRY WE INHERITED — NOT THE ONE WE ARE BUILDING

The problems above are not imaginary. They are what staff and owners live with every day. Anonymous riders, rented accounts, abuse towards staff, and weak identity systems have damaged trust between restaurants and couriers.

WE-COLLECT exists to do the opposite — to restore trust, respect and safety between businesses, couriers and customers. The next section explains how our model fixes these problems from the ground up.