URGENT ACTION NEEDED: LCDC committee member highlights rising taxi costs, ‘pseudo taxi services’ and declining cabbie numbers
- Perry Richardson
- Sep 3
- 3 min read
A London Cab Drivers Club (LCDC) committee member and experienced driver has delivered a stark warning about the future of the taxi trade, raising concerns that ongoing policy failures and the unchecked expansion of private hire apps are pushing the profession towards irreversible decline.
In his column in The Badge, Grant Walker draws comparisons between today’s situation and earlier challenges faced by the trade, recalling the warning he received as a young cab driver in the late 1970s: “The game’s dead, son.” That phrase, which once reflected a passing comment from a veteran driver, is now being echoed with increasing seriousness across the profession.
Walker points to multiple pressures drivers are now facing: the cost of vehicle ownership, reduced earnings, and a regulatory system that is, in his view, no longer designed to protect the licensed taxi industry. He reflects on his own entry into the trade in 1982, when costs were lower and the Knowledge offered a reliable path to secure work.
“That was the year I bought my first new cab, the newly-released FX4R, that we were all glad to see the back of, eventually. The top of the range model cost £10,070. Don't laugh! diesel was a lot cheaper too.
“You may say that takings were a lot lower back then and to a degree you may be right, but maybe not as much as you think. In May of that year, my average weekly takings were £450 and diesel cost £39.50.
“Taking inflation into account, that equates to a net £1,850 per week less the cost of the cab. Well, we already know that the cab costs 7 x what is cost in 1984. I'm feeling poor already.”
He then highlights the financial strain placed on drivers by airport surcharges, fixed meter rates and rising fuel and insurance costs. In contrast, app-based private hire services continue to grow in volume and undercut licensed taxis on price and flexibility, creating what Walker describes as a pseudo-taxi service without adhering to the same rules.
“The problem isn’t only that PH Apps are operating a pseudo taxi service rather than a PH service,” he says. “It isn't that TfL do not recognise what the PH Act acknowledged. That is, you cannot put different rules and regs and costs on the taxi trade that are far higher than those imposed on the PH trade and expect them to compete in the same market.”
Walker is especially critical of what he sees as inaction from both the regulator and the Mayor’s Office. He claims they have allowed the situation to worsen by failing to enforce standards or stop the growth of unregulated behaviour among PH operators.
The Knowledge, once considered the backbone of the London cab profession, has faced struggles getting more recruits onboard. Walker cites figures from June, when only 14 drivers passed the test while 55 handed in their badges. With a steady decline in active badge holders, the fleet is projected to fall to around 12,500 in five years if the current rate of exits continues.
“In June, there were 100 more cabs came off the road than new cabs licensed. That equals a fleet reduction of 1,200 per year. We’re currently at 13,985. We lost a quarter of the fleet over the last 5 years.”
Walker argues this trend will only worsen unless serious action is taken to reverse the decline. He outlines three steps that he believes are essential: naming and holding accountable the individuals at TfL responsible for regulatory failure; reforming how PH drivers are licensed and monitored; and introducing legislation to prevent PH drivers from accepting jobs that resemble taxi-style pick-ups.
He calls on trade bodies and the Knowledge schools to rally together and take strong action. “This has to be a message of hope on how to save the trade. We need new drivers coming into the trade and new teams that want to try and build the fleet sensibly, via the business that must supply the fleet.”
The LCDC Committee member sums it all up detailing that either decisive steps are taken now, or the London taxi trade risks becoming an unsustainable model, undermined by poor enforcement, mounting costs, and a regulator that has failed to adapt.
