AFFORDABLE: London Cab Driver Club Chairman asks TfL why new £39,995 LPG taxis cannot be used
A London taxi driver representative has questioned why new £39,995 LPG taxis cannot be used in London to clean up air pollution and help cabbies with a more affordable alternative away from electric black cabs.
Grant Davis, Chairman of the London Cab Driver Club (LCDC), has expressed concern over the financial challenges faced by taxi drivers in light of recent changes within the industry. In a editorial published in The Badge newspaper, Davis highlighted the difficulties many drivers face in either affording or renting new electric TXe taxis, as well as the impact of the 12-year age limit imposed by the Mayor of London.
Davis asserted that the introduction of the TXe and the subsequent age limit seemed to have inadvertently marginalised many taxi drivers, particularly those who were elderly or owned their vehicles outright. He claimed that the move made "self-employed" taxi drivers essentially "unemployed".
The LCDC Chairman recently attended a meeting with TfL to discuss the Certificate of Fitness (COF) and the circumstances surrounding it for drivers.
During this meeting, Davis brought attention to a newly available LPG/Petrol taxi being sold at a price of just £39,995. Although TfL informed him that this particular model would only comply with the Mayor's air quality requirements until 2033, Davis argued that a compromise could be reached. He proposed allowing these taxis to operate in London on a ten-year plate, instead of the current 12 or 15 years, as a feasible solution that would benefit both the taxi trade and the air quality goals.
Davis said: “If as the Mayor would have us believe, its all about the air quality, then why would TfL not agree to take diesel taxis off the roads and replace them with LPG / Petrol vehicles ones...cleaner ones in fact... as its all about air quality isn't it?
“Whilst highlighting these taxis and also the HJS Euro5 /6 conversion recently the Mayor was at pains to point out a £6k grant to owners of Euro5 vans / working vehicles to upgrade theirs to a Euro, therefore I am saying to TfL that both the LPG taxis and also taxis being converted by the HJS system, should be eligible for the grant.
“Imagine buying a clean LPG taxi for just £33,995 and keeping it for the full ten years, it would work out at about £90 per week.
“The trade needs choice and also if its all about air quality, the Mayor and TfL should be encouraging both of these to the taxi trade in my opinion.”
