TAXI ACCESS: Two taxi groups take first legal steps to challenge DENIED Tottenham Court Road access

Image credit: LTDA

Two of the capital’s leading taxi driver groups, the Licensed Taxi Drivers’ Association (LTDA) and United Trade Action Group (UTAG), have jointly launched the first step in a legal challenge based on the exclusion of taxis from Tottenham Court Road.

Both groups have confirmed that lawyers used jointly have sent a Pre Action Protocol (PAP) letter to Camden Council’s legal department.

A spokesperson from the LTDA said via social media: “Together with our colleagues at UTAG we have started the process of challenging taxi access to Tottenham Court Road. Email has just gone to all members enclosing the Pre Action Protocol ( PAP) letter sent by our joint lawyers.”

A spokesperson from UTAG said: “To the supporters of UTAG and the trade. Yesterday we served Camden Council with a Pre-Action Protocol letter.

“This shows our intention going forward to fight on every front for this great trade. We cannot sit and watch our working environment taken from us by local councils.”

The latest challenge comes hot on the heels of the landmark High Court ruling in January which found the Mayor of London and Transport for London (TfL) to have “acted unlawfully” in their treatment of licensed taxis, in the Streetspace for London Plan and associated Guidance and the A10 Bishopsgate Traffic Order.

Whilst awaiting the decision from the Appeal Court to see whether TfL can challenge the Bishopsgate judgment, taxi trade group lawyers from the United Taxi Action Group (UTAG) and the Licensed Taxi Drivers’ Association (LTDA), have begun looking at other schemes that exclude taxis and how they might be able to challenge them.

On Sunday 28 February Camden’s Gower Street and Bloomsbury Street turned two way between Grafton Way and High Holborn.

A day later on Monday 1 March the new traffic restrictions put in place on Tottenham Court Road also became active. Areas will be restricted to buses and cyclists only Monday – Saturday 8am-7pm.

Steve McNamara, LTDA General Secretary, said: “As we, hopefully, start to prepare for a return to work, the biggest threat facing our trade and our ability to earn a living and provide for our families is our ability to move around. We need to use our recent High Court victory to ensure we retain access to ALL roads.

“Already many councils are now automatically including taxis in the lists of permitted vehicles to enter LTN's and even TfL have exempted taxis from the banned turns being proposed in Tooley Street and elsewhere.

“However not every council recognises the significance of the ruling and some, like Camden, are still pushing ahead with schemes, like Tottenham Court Road, that exclude taxis.”