SECURING THE TAXI TRADE FUTURE: Keeping the Knowledge ‘Gold Standard’ while retaining drivers remains vital says LTDA Chairman
Updated: 4 days ago

The Licensed Taxi Drivers’ Association (LTDA) chairman, Paul Brennan, has highlighted the need for both new entrants and retention of existing drivers to safeguard the future of the taxi trade.
Writing in TAXI newspaper, he welcomed the imminent introduction of a new ‘set list’ of points in the Knowledge exam, designed to remove impractical and unnecessary locations from the test.
The move aims to make the process more accessible to aspiring cab drivers without compromising the Knowledge’s rigorous standards. Brennan made it clear that any changes must maintain the trade’s ‘Gold Standard’, ensuring London’s black cab drivers remain the best in the world.
Recruitment is only part of the challenge. Retention is equally critical, with concerns over the number of experienced drivers leaving the industry. Brennan stressed that stopping this decline should be a priority before addressing wider recruitment issues.
The Knowledge, a test that has defined the profession for generations, has long been regarded as the toughest of its kind. While changes are being made to modernise it, maintaining its credibility remains at the heart of industry discussions.
Brennan said: “We always need new blood in the trade. Small changes like the soon to be implemented ‘set list’ of points, designed to stop Knowledge candidates being asked, the ridiculous, impossible to know and particularly the never need to know, are believed to be a good way of making the Knowledge more palatable to the next generation.
“Any changes must be done without dumbing down the Knowledge – retaining the Gold Standard that we all did and that helped ensure we are the world’s best.
“We also need to retain those already within. Stopping the leak before fixing the issue is just as important and every effort must be made to do that first.”