Super-fast delivery firms Getir and Flink have been fined a total of €467,275 for using riders without the proper papers.

Social affairs ministry inspectors identified more than 180 issues, with the companies employing riders working through a complicated network of limited companies when they should have been on the books.

This, the inspectors said, enabled the companies to avoid paying taxes and social insurance premiums. Many of the riders who faced checks did not have valid residency or work permits either.

The inspectors said last year after the six weeks of checks that two companies would be fined but did not give details about how much.

The inspectors did not name the companies involved, but Flink and Getir are the only two that have been operating in the Netherlands since 2022. Getir has also since pulled out.

Gorillas, which also worked with supermarket chain Jumbo, was taken over by Getir in 2022, and Zapp left later that year.

Fast delivery firms, which promised to provide groceries within 10 minutes, soared in popularity during the coronavirus pandemic, but were hit by increasing restrictions on where they could place their distribution centres as well as intense competition for orders.