Uber launched Tuesday an attempt at England's Court of Appeal to overturn a ruling that the ride-hailing app's drivers are its workers rather than self-employed, as protestors rallied outside. Uber is trying to to overturn employment tribunal findings which could pave the way for tens of thousands of its drivers in Britain to receive the national minimum wage and paid holiday time.

The US firm's lawyers said the "agency model" -- with Uber acting as an agent between self-employed drivers and passengers -- has been used in the private hire industry "for many years", and this had not been properly taken into account by the tribunal. Lawyer Dinah Rose said Uber was not "unusual" in the industry, but "the Uber app enables it to operate on a much larger scale than traditional minicab companies".