Taxi driver wards off minicab drivers with UMBRELLA after latest electric chargepoint flash point

Tensions continue to escalate as taxi drivers trying to use e-taxi charging facilities are BLOCKED by minicabs and other motorists.

The latest flash point saw a London cabbie having to approach TWO private hire drivers blocking access to the vital charging point for the black taxi trade.

During the incident on Tower Bridge Road the threatened taxi driver pulled out an UMBRELLA to ward off the approaching drivers.

One of the men then tried to stop the taxi leaving by standing in front of the electric taxi’s bonnet.

The threatened taxi driver shared the incident on social media, saying: “Well being an iconic cabbie is now turning into a nightmare and more so if you happen to use a taxi only charging point only to be attacked by thugs driving private hire vehicles.”

This incident comes days after a different man incorrectly using the SAME taxi chargepoint also became aggressive towards a black cab driver.

In the video shared online, a driver of a silver electric Nissan van was heard calling a taxi driver a ‘pri*k’ and a ‘mug’ after pointing out he was incorrectly using a rapid e-taxi charging point.

The man believed to be in his fifty’s removed the charging cable located on Tower Bridge Road before calling the cabbie a ‘f**king pri*k’.

In the video the taxi driver remained calm and could be heard thanking the man for his cooperation. The van driver, still munching on a mouthful of food, returned to the van to retrieve his phone.

The grey haired male wearing a blue hoodie then took photos of the electric taxi waiting to use the e-taxi charging bay before saying, “See you, you’re a rude man mate. I’ll be complaining to the police about you”.

The taxi driver called Tom, remained calm and simply said, “Thank you. Yeah do it. Thank you”.

The video of the incident was posted on social media and is the latest in a long line of encounters that has raised concerns over taxi driver safety and lack of chargepoint enforcement.

TaxiPoint has reported that drivers of electric taxis are being increasingly forced to engage in heated discussions with licensed minicab drivers and other motorists incorrectly using designated licensed taxi chargepoints.

According to taxi drivers, the problem has become so bad they have called on the capital’s transport authority and chargepoint providers to sort out the issue before ‘it ends up in fights’.

In London alone over 4,000 electric taxi drivers have invested over £200million in Zero Emissions Capable (ZEC) vehicles since January 2018. The problem around designated taxi chargepoint access has escalated so much that a new channel to report private hire vehicles and other private cars using the bays has now been established.

Drivers on the social media platform Twitter are being urged to send in photos and details to @taxis_e who in turn will report to Transport for London (TfL) once a week.

A spokesperson from the @taxis_e group commented on today’s incident simply saying: “A ticking time bomb...”