Pa Manjang said he was dismissed after failing a facial recognition check, which all drivers are required to do to check in for work.

Mr Manjang, who lives in London and came to the UK from Gambia in 2011, said he was “asked to take photos of myself multiple times a day”, and told Uber Eats: “Your algorithm by the looks of things is racist.”

He claims the software failed to recognise the selfies as being ones of him. The food giant emailed him last April to say he was permanently suspended, accusing him of sharing his account.

The proceedings will raise the question of whether couriers should be deemed workers instead of self-employed.

Mr Manjang’s solicitor, Paul Jennings, a partner at Bates Wells, said his client’s treatment by Uber Eats was “Kafkaesque”.

Mr Jennings said: “Part of this dispute is whether couriers are workers and are protected in the same way that Uber drivers were found to be workers.

“It’s off the back of that success in the Supreme Court that this next phase is now being pursued to try and extend those protections to couriers.”

An Uber spokesperson said: “Automated facial verification was not the reason for Mr Manjang’s temporary loss of access to his courier account. Our Real-time ID Check … includes robust human review to make sure that we’re not making decisions about someone’s livelihood in a vacuum, without oversight.”