Could TfL be looking to slash compliance officer numbers?

The London Mayor faced a grilling from City Hall after concerns around the number of taxi compliance officer being reduced could lead to enforcement becoming “woefully inadequate” again.
The London Assembly member for Havering and Redbridge, Keith Prince, challenged the London Mayor Sadiq Khan, saying: "The Head of Compliance has said that he may have to reduce the number of officers, which are already short of the 250 promised in the Mayor’s Taxi & PH Plan."
Mr Prince then followed up by asking the Mayor: "Can you give assurances that the number of Compliance Officers will not drop and that Taxi & PH Enforcement will not go back to being woefully inadequate?"
The Mayor responded by saying: "In 2017, Transport for London (TfL) met my commitment by having recruited 250 new taxi and private hire compliance officers. As with any operation, it is necessary to review the level of resources needed, based on the issues that are presented.
“Over the past two years, TfL has made significant improvements in compliance and enforcement, and they intend to build on this to deliver enforcement in a more efficient, flexible and effective way.
“TfL is currently consulting with its Compliance, Policing and On-Street Service Directorate (CPOS) staff on proposals for organisational change. This includes taxi and private hire compliance officers. "These officers are part of a wider on-street compliance and enforcement operation. TfL’s proposals mean we could have up to 420 multi-skilled on-street officers to support taxi and private hire work, supported by a robust tasking and deployment process. This is a significant increase on the 82 compliance officers available for taxi and private hire-specific work in August 2016."
Over the last couple of years there has been criticism from some quarters in relation to the amount of compliance officers available at street-level, as well questions asked as to how effective they are in dealing with issues surrounding the taxi and private hire industry.
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