‘TIME TFL LOOKED IN THE MIRROR’: TfL failures and licensing pressures piled on London’s taxi drivers slammed by LTDA Chairman
- Perry Richardson
- 1 day ago
- 3 min read
Taxi drivers across the capital are facing serious financial and professional hardship due to repeated errors and delays in Transport for London’s (TfL) taxi licensing system, says London taxi representative.
What used to be a manageable relicensing process has, according to industry leaders, turned into a series of mismanaged decisions, poor communication, and administrative blunders that are threatening the livelihoods of hundreds of drivers.
Paul Brennan, Chairman of the Licensed Taxi Drivers’ Association (LTDA), has called out TfL’s current approach to licensing as not only flawed, but damaging. He said that many drivers are being unfairly targeted with “fitness to be licensed” letters, which were once issued only in rare and serious cases. Now, they are landing on doormats far more regularly, often without justification.
These letters are being sent in situations where a simple advisory or follow-up would normally suffice. Instead, drivers find themselves being informed that their suitability to hold a taxi licence is under question—putting their careers and income on the line, with very little support or explanation.
Some drivers have been temporarily suspended from working for a few weeks. Others have had their licences revoked entirely. Brennan says that the emotional toll of receiving such correspondence is serious and often overlooked by the authorities. “TfL seem not to care how a driver will feel having their livelihood threatened,” he wrote. “They have been told, but they appear not to care.”
Drivers are being sidelined by mistakes and delays that are entirely out of their hands. Brennan points to situations where drivers have submitted renewal applications or medical documents well in advance, only to find themselves left waiting for weeks without the ability to work—and with no clear communication from TfL.
“How would they feel or survive, if we took away a week or two’s salary from them for no good reason?” he asked. “That’s the reality for drivers, and it’s unacceptable.”
For Brennan and many others in the trade, these issues raise serious questions about TfL’s ability to regulate effectively. He believes it is time the organisation looked in the mirror and considered its own fitness to do the job. With mistakes mounting and support lacking, trust in the licensing process is falling.
Brennan said in TAXI Newspaper: “Losing a week or two’s income because you don’t have a taxi licence is becoming all too common for drivers. Historically, it would have been because a driver had forgotten to do something or simply left it far too late to complete the relicensing process. Now, the reason is that all too often, TfL are simply getting things wrong.
“Whether it’s because they are short staffed or too many are working from home and unable to properly train the new incumbents, I don’t know, but it needs addressing ASAP.
“TfL regularly now send drivers a ‘fitness to be licensed’ letter, when in reality it should be no more than an advisory or at worst a formal complaint, requesting a response. They seem not to care how a driver who receives this letter will feel having their livelihood threatened, but they have been told.
“Unfortunately, they appear not to care that they are unnecessarily causing driver’s mental anguish.
“We’re seeing drivers unfairly losing their licence, whether it be a temporary holiday of a month or two or a complete revocation because TfL deem then as ‘not fit and proper’. If you ask me, it’s TfL who are not fit and proper and it is they who should lose their licence to regulate.”
He went on to say: “Whether it be the previously mentioned explosion in fi tness to be licensed letters which are now being sent out at alarming levels in cases where a driver’s fitness should not be in question or the fact that drivers are left unable to work for a week or two due to a delay in processing their renewal or medical information with zero consideration of how they pay all the bills. How would they feel or survive, if we took away a week or two’s salary from them for no good reason?”
Brennan concluded: “When it comes to being fit to do the job, if you ask me it’s time TfL looked in the mirror and questioned themselves before they send out any more letters to hardworking drivers simply trying to earn a living.”
