LONDON’S BLACK CABS DEMAND FAIR TREATMENT: Sherbet’s open letter to Sir Sadiq Khan ahead of Action Plan
London’s black cabs have been a cornerstone of the capital for centuries, but the industry now faces mounting pressures that threaten its future. In an open letter to Mayor Sir Sadiq Khan, Asher Moses, CEO of Sherbet Electric Taxis and a licensed black cab driver, lays out urgent concerns and calls for action to support the trade.
Moses highlights the challenges faced by the 17,000-strong fleet, from rising costs and limited road access to a declining number of new drivers. Despite embracing modern technology and fully committing to the city’s Net Zero targets, black cab numbers are dwindling and there are questions around their role in future transport policies.
The letter urges the Mayor to introduce fast-track Knowledge training, VAT relief on electric taxis, greater choice in vehicle manufacturers, and full access to London’s roads. Without intervention, Moses warns, the city risks losing one of its most iconic and trusted transport services.
Here is the letter in full...
Dear Mayor of London, Sir Sadiq Khan,
My name is Asher Moses, proud Licensed Black Taxi Driver in the greatest city in the world, London, and Founder and CEO of Sherbet Electric Taxis, London’s fastest growing and biggest privately owned EV fleet of more than 500 taxis.
I am writing to you as both a fleet owner and an advocate of all the 17,000+ drivers out there today to ask for support in your upcoming Action Plan so that we can continue to be the world’s most iconic and best taxi.
The ‘black cab’ has been part of London since the 17th century, starting out as a horse drawn carriage, hence the term ‘hackney carriage’. Even now, ever wondered why the head room is so high? The taxi design harks back to the olden days when a gentleman had to have enough head room to accommodate his top hat. In fact the small turning circle we have was invented back when we had to be able to turn the cab around outside the Savoy. The word ‘cab’ comes from the 19thc Cabriolet carriage imported from France which served as one of the earlier iterations of the current iconic black vehicle. Why am I telling you this?
Because I want to remind you that we have been part of the fabric of this city for centuries and respected the world over. We’re as London as the double-decker bus and the red post box. We’ve upheld our traditions and standards yet happily modernised ourselves to support London’s evolution such as introducing mod cons into our taxis and going fully electric to meet your Net Zero Plan. Since day one, we have been a collective of self-employed, proud and hard-working men and
women serving London.
But we see the landscape changing and we worry that we are being forgotten. We see new tech giants come in and drive prices down whilst our costs and restrictions go up. We see our guardians TFL advertise tubes yet never give us a mention. We see access to roads taken away from us in our most critical borough, The City, so our role in transporting City professionals and those needing access becomes increasingly redundant.
This is my elevator pitch; 4 things I ask you to do for us to secure the future of the Licensed London Black Taxi.
1. Acknowledging the Knowledge as a vocation to nurture the next generation of drivers. Joining our ranks isn’t for the fainthearted, the Knowledge test we have to pass takes up to 4 years to study for and has been compared to studying for a degree. It’s an institution that we are so proud to have worked for.
However, it’s hugely time consuming and expensive so it’s no surprise that the number of qualifying drivers has dipped to its lowest level in 40 years and around 60% of all drivers are 50 years+. It’s a great career path for those with a strong work ethic but maybe don’t have any academic qualifications and we find single parents do well in the job due to its flexibility. So please introduce a speedier fast-track option that still retains the high standards of the traditional Knowledge but allows accelerated training. Introduce apprenticeships and sell the career to school leavers. It’s a fantastic job!
2. VAT relief on electric taxis to help us continue on the path to Net Zero. We are all on board to ditch diesel for EV. In fact, I bought the first ever LEVC TXE taxi and proud to say my fleet is the fastest to have converted to EV (at a huge financial burden to my business, somewhere in the region of about £30m). Other fleet owners have collectively invested around £200m. Drivers all over London have put their entire life savings into the costly TXE and now we are all finding that the EV dream isn’t what it’s cracked up to be as our costs are crippling and the amount of work available is being taken by the ever growing PHV sector. Do you know the cost of rapid charge in London has gone up approx. 500% in London over the last 5 years!? This has priced many of us out. I surveyed drivers this week and found 64% of them can’t afford to charge so they depend on the range extender.
Something’s not right here. Given our taxis are both electric AND wheelchair accessible, can you consider VAT relief as well as charging subsidies?
3. The TXE is currently too expensive, it’s that simple. My Sherbet fleet drivers overwhelmingly ask for you to allow Black Taxi drivers to choose from more than 1 vehicle to lessen the financial burden of buying a new taxi. In most other UK cities, and for PHV’s, authorities license more than one vehicle.
Yet for the Black Taxi trade, we are obligated to drive only one vehicle, from one manufacturer. The cost of this TXE vehicle can be as high as £100k when you include interest. We should be given the option to choose from a more reasonably priced vehicle, even if we have to compromise on some features. At least give us a choice. By growing the choice of vehicles for Black Taxi drivers, you level the playing field with Private Hire and invite an acceleration in adoption of EV that will help build to Net Zero.
4. Access to all roads. I understand the importance of offering Londoners choice of transport options at all price points and the rational for granting concessions to UBER and PHV’s to support their growth and we accept that because we offer a different service. However, we find it hard to accept having a chunk of our bread and butter jobs wiped out as we have access denied on key roads and the City. We ‘black cabs’ offer transport that’s efficient, comfortable, spacious and driven by career drivers so much of our work is taking City professionals to and from the City, but we can’t serve them anymore.
Our taxis have always best served those needing additional access needs as we have the widest door access for wheelchairs and our drivers are trained on the correct protocols for on and off wheelchair access. With us being denied access to many key locations and roads, we can’t serve those passengers either.
We accept sharing work with PHV’s but let it be a level playing field for both the trade. Passengers also want the choice. Let all us taxi operators divide and conquer by giving Licensed Black Taxis access to bus lanes and The City so we can serve the passengers we have always looked after and let UBER do the jobs they do best.
‘Jobs availability’ is the second biggest concern for my drivers (no1 being the costs of the taxi). When I asked them what one thing they would wish for from you the top response was ‘access to all roads’.
If changes to this effect don’t get introduced, we risk losing a loved institution that’s famous the world over. The ‘black cab’ has survived everything that’s challenged it and reincarnated itself into an even better version of its previous self. It’s testament to the trade that for over 300 years we have survived the industrial revolution, we’ve survived two world wars, the tech revolution (when you’d think GPS would have killed us off overnight) and even a pandemic. Surely we can’t let a few oversights in policy be the straw that breaks our back.
My own fleet, Sherbet, has proven what the ‘black cab’ can do when you embrace tech and future vision. My taxis aren’t a horse drawn carriage anymore, they are possibly the smartest and most intelligent vehicles on London roads. They are all fitted with cameras, high level telematic tracking and advanced data collection for Smart Cities. They are purpose built taxis that offer unrivalled, 360 panoramic views of London with all the comforts any passenger needs and wants and are regulated and trusted. I am regularly asked to attend expos around the world to share my roadmap to success, so please Mr Mayor, why can’t you also see our value.
If you see us in the future of this city, I implore you to consider the 4 asks above and make it a fair playing field so that we can continue to be at the forefront of ground transport for London and on the fast track to Net Zero.
We look forward to your response.
Yours sincerely,
Asher Moses
Green Badge Driver, Founder & CEO of Sherbet
Electric Taxis.
