Rising complaints leaving cabbies vulnerable, says London taxi driver association

London’s black cab drivers are facing a surge in complaints being made to Transport for London (TfL), sparking concerns over how these are being handled.

Steve McNamara, General Secretary of the Licensed Taxi Drivers’ Association (LTDA), raised the alarm in TAXI newspaper, highlighting cases where drivers are subjected to ‘Fitness to Licence’ reviews before any thorough investigation takes place.

One recent incident saw a taxi driver wrongfully accused of sexual assault by a passenger. After dropping a fare on Kensington Church Street, the driver was confronted by police when the passenger claimed he had assaulted her. Although the driver maintained his innocence, he mistakenly chose to handle the police interview without legal support, believing the situation was absurd given that he had never left the cab.

Following his release under investigation, the driver contacted the LTDA. The Association’s legal team quickly obtained CCTV footage from both the pick-up point and the drop-off, which proved the driver had not exited the vehicle during the journey. The video evidence, combined with journey timings, made it clear that the alleged incident could not have occurred. McNamara also said officers mistook the cabbie for a minicab driver and failed to challenge the passenger’s claims. The case was swiftly discontinued.

McNamara said: “For some reason that has yet to be explained or figured out, we are seeing an explosion in the number of complaints made to TfL about cabbies, with some of these being dealt with by way of a ‘Fitness to Licensed’ review regardless of whether the complaint has been investigated first or how serious (or not serious) the matter is.

“Firstly, I cannot emphasise enough that if you receive one of these, even if you know nothing about the incident, please do not reply yourself, speak to us, and allow our advisers to help you.

“The same goes for any communications from the police or the courts that you are not sure about, its so much easier if we are involved from the beginning, rather than bringing us to try to sort something out at a later date.”