Muslim minicab drivers working at Heathrow Airport say they are forced to pray in bus stop due to a lack of facilities

AIRLIVE
2 Min Read

Muslim minicab drivers working at Heathrow Airport have described feeling “humiliated” after being forced to pray in a bus stop car park.

Drivers said they have prayed on the kerb of the road due to a lack of facilities for more than a year, but conditions have worsened recently.

The App Drivers and Couriers Union (ADCU) said workers were put in danger by the airport’s services.

Heathrow Airport said it remains “committed” to improving services.

It added it would reopen prayer rooms in the terminal when it was “safe to do so”.

There are two car parks outside Heathrow Airport, one is designated for black cab taxi drivers, while the other on North Perimeter Road is for minicab and private hire drivers.

The ADCU said there was an increase in drivers waiting in the minicab car park area due to fewer passengers travelling during the pandemic.

Private hire driver Zamir Dreni, who uses the bus stop to pray, said the facilities are “inhumane and degrading”.

“Recently, conditions have deteriorated to the point that I believe they are dangerous,” he said.

“I feel that the airport authorities treat us with complete contempt.”

The union’s general secretary, James Farrar, said workers felt “upset, humiliated and angry” after conditions came to a “disgusting crescendo”.

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