LTDA Chairman slams Mayor of London’s taxi Action Plan as ‘lip service’ lacking real solutions
- Perry Richardson
- 2 hours ago
- 4 min read
Paul Brennan, Chairman of the Licensed Taxi Drivers’ Association (LTDA), is the latest to sharply criticise the Mayor of London’s recently published Taxi Action Plan.
Writing in TAXI Newspaper, Brennan described the plan as lacking both clear strategy and tangible action. Reflecting on his earlier predictions made at the start of the year, Brennan said his scepticism about the Mayor’s intentions had been justified. He recalled that the previous plan under the current administration led to a surge in private hire vehicle (PHV) numbers and contributed to worsening congestion and a decline in the licensed taxi trade.
Brennan said the new plan does not address the long-standing challenges facing the trade. “What action and what plan?” he wrote, calling the document a report rather than a practical framework for change. He criticised the lack of new ideas and said the plan failed to tackle any of the pressing issues affecting drivers.
On the topic of taxi access, Brennan noted it was barely mentioned, with no concrete proposals to improve conditions. The plan simply encouraged cooperation between boroughs and industry stakeholders, without specifying how this would be facilitated.
Brennan expressed frustration that environmental concerns were again being pinned on licensed taxis, despite the continuing growth of PHV numbers. He argued that capping PHV licences would reduce emissions and improve career prospects across both sectors, urging the Mayor to follow through on previous commitments that a Labour-led government could enable such a cap.
He also criticised the proposed reintroduction of taxi driving assessments. Brennan pointed out that since the DVSA withdrew from conducting assessments in 2016, no replacement system has been put in place. According to the plan, a consultation might take place in 2027, with no clear timeline beyond that.
Brennan said in TAXI Newspaper: “Now the dust has settled a little bit and most people have had their say on the Mayor’s Taxi Action Plan, I wanted to chip in my two penn’orth.
“You may recall in the first TAXI issue of the year that I wrote the following: The Mayor is due to release his new action plan for Taxi & Private Hire, the new Mayor’s action plan is not likely to be good if his track record is anything to go by, the last action plan resulted in nothing more than record numbers of private hire cars and drivers on London’s shrinking and congested roads and the huge decline in the world’s best taxis and taxi drivers.
“It’s imperative that this new action plan reverses this disastrous outcome and isn’t just a plan to remove all diesel taxis by 2030 at any cost and to subject our trade to even more unnecessary bureaucratic nonsense.
“Well, in my opinion, the best way to summarise the Action Plan, which to me reads more like a report, is: What action and what plan? In my view, it lacks both.
“The only slightly good news is, that it contains nothing new that will do us more harm. Th e bad news is it does absolutely nothing to address any of the issues we have. I was asked by a senior official what my thoughts on the plan were, I couldn’t politely say what I wanted, so biting my lip and being on my best behaviour I simply commented, “Disappointing very disappointing.”
“For me, the action plan is nothing but lip service. And it feels like more eff ort has gone into producing the graphs in several different formats across multiple pages along with some well-chosen photographs than getting to the actual crux of the matter. We waited months and months for a report that I could have probably produced on my own, in a week.
“It’s not until several pages into the Plan that it even mentions something that is actually meaningful, that being taxi access.
“Unfortunately, that’s all they do, mention it. Their solution? Encourage taxi and private hire stakeholders and London boroughs to work together. No actual mention of how they will ‘encourage’ this.
“No silly me, what am I saying, they’ve written this Plan, the powers that be in the 32 boroughs will read this report and be straight on the phone to us rather than continuing to ignore us. Unlikely.
“They then have the audacity to go into our environmental impact and list all the nasty ways we contribute to the poor air quality. We have a simple solution to that, and that’s for them to cap the number of private hire licences issued and for the Mayor to honour his assurances that with a Labour Mayor and a Labour government, this could be achieved, as the only reason it wasn’t being done previously was ‘the Tory government’.
“The fact that the PH trade has grown so much, should ring some very loud alarm bells, but somehow no one is hearing them. One of the other statements within the report is that they want to make being a taxi driver or PH driver an attractive career. Capping PH will achieve that for both trades whilst also helping with their environmental goals.
“Another jaw dropping ‘action’ within the ‘action’ plan is to restart the taxi driving assessments for both taxis and PH (who did not previously need one).
“It’s been almost a decade since we had to do ‘the drive’ as part of completing the Knowledge and getting your badge.
“So, whilst they say they want to ensure a professional driving ability, they’ve done nothing for best part of a decade to get the tests back up and running since the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) withdrew from doing so in 2016. Fear not, this action plan which sets out the way forward for both trades between 2025 – 2030 will sort it.
“O wait, silly me, nothing will happen until a consultation on TfL possibly doing so in maybe 2027. Well, that’s some swift ‘action’ I’m sure you’ll agree. Great news though, they will commence lecturing us on the benefits of Advanced Driver Safety Assistance Systems (ADAS) starting this year. Hallelujah, we’re all saved.”
