LTDA clears up confusion over Heathrow taxi rank warden scheme costs
- Perry Richardson
- 3 days ago
- 2 min read
Updated: 2 days ago
The Licensed Taxi Drivers’ Association (LTDA) has stepped in to clarify how much the Heathrow warden scheme cost, stressing that the initiative did not cost the trade directly and was instead a cost-effective way of maintaining service levels.
Addressing confusion around the so-called cost of the scheme, the LTDA’s Senior Rep Sam Houston highlighted that wardens were not being paid extravagant sums, nor were the ride figures being exaggerated. Instead, the scheme worked by offering wardens a discount on waiting time and free dispatch, with no direct financial burden placed on drivers.
The scheme aimed to keep the terminal ranks supplied with taxis by mitigating delays from the Feeder Park (TFP). Delays there often meant taxis would take up to three hours to reach a rank, leading to empty ranks and lost journeys. The warden system helped solve this by ensuring a steady flow of taxis to the terminals.
Some critics had claimed wardens were completing as many as 72 rides per day, costing upwards of £183,600 per month. However, Houston refuted this, explaining that wardens averaged only 15 rides per day—amounting to 0.6 per cent of the total number of daily rides. The only cost to the scheme, the LTDA confirmed, was £1 per job for the dispatch price—totalling approximately £1,800 a month.
The LTDA argued this was a highly cost-effective way to ensure drivers didn’t lose jobs and customers didn’t leave terminals without a taxi.
Sam Houston said in TAXI Newspaper: “One of the best parts of our job is the freedom to stand around drinking tea and pontificating to one’s heart’s content, as we are not answerable to any boss.
“But there should be room for professionalism as well, because this is where we sometimes lose out to other services. Yesterday, I was in the feeder park and the two lines next to me went out in a rush.
"One of the drivers wasn’t back, and there was a significant holdup as cabs coming in and going out got in each other’s way trying to get around him. All the while, customers waited on a rank. Some will have drifted away. When the driver got back, he had his gym bag and some takeaway food that he had queued up to get while his ride went stale on the rank.
“Delays like this happen all day, every day at the TFP, which is why we need wardens.”
