UNITED TRADE: Taxi trade unites in call for correct and vital action to secure London’s black cab future
The London taxi trade is united more than ever before in its call for correct and vital action to secure London’s black cab future.
Steve McNamara, General Secretary of the Licensed Taxi Drivers’ Association (LTDA), highlighted the growing unity among taxi trade groups in a recent statement published in TAXI newspaper. Once perceived as divided, McNamara asserts that the trade is now united, particularly when engaging with Transport for London (TfL) on critical issues.
McNamara pointed to the upcoming Taxi Action Plan as a key area of concern. The plan, he says, must include guarantees on universal road access, ensuring that black cabs can operate wherever buses do. He, and those who signed the united letter, also emphasised the need for financial support, calling for interest-free loans, a new scrappage scheme, and stronger lobbying efforts to extend the Plug-in Taxi Grant (PiTG) beyond March 2025. Additionally, there was support for extending the VAT exemption for adapted motor vehicles to include purpose-built taxis.
The industry’s unified approach was highlighted when trade groups and businesses collectively signed a letter to the Mayor of London, urging immediate action. McNamara personally delivered this letter to senior TfL figures, including Transport Commissioner Andy Lord and Deputy Mayor for Transport Seb Dance, at a trade representatives’ meeting.
The letter aligns with a motion passed by the London Assembly last month, which called for enhanced support for the black taxi trade. At the plenary session, Labour Chair of the GLA Transport Committee, Elly Baker, criticised current policies, stating: “The Mayor and TfL need to make active interventions on these matters, it’s not enough to be hands off while the black taxi trade withers and to basically blame the market...”
McNamara said in TAXI Newspaper: “The great myth about the taxi trade groups is that we don’t work together or that we argue amongst ourselves, it was always untrue, but in recent years the exact opposite is true.
“We now all work together constantly and especially when dealing with TfL. A great example is with the upcoming Taxi Action Plan.
“We are all concerned that the new plan will not deliver what we want and need - a commitment to universal access to all roads, defined as ‘taxis go where the buses go’. We also need financial support in the shape of interest free loans, another scrappage scheme and support in lobbying central government to extend the Plug in Taxi Grant (PiTG) beyond next March and to extend the VAT exemption for adapted motor vehicles for disabled people to purpose built taxis.
“To highlight everyone’s commitment to these key asks, all the trade groups and businesses recently signed a joint letter to the Mayor of London, calling for urgent action to support our trade. I was then able to hand the letter directly to the Transport Commissioner, Andy Lord, the Deputy Mayor for Transport, Seb Dance, Claire Mann TfL’s Chief Operating Officer and Helen Chapman the Head of Taxi and Private Hire licensing, at a trade reps meeting last week.
“The letter follows on from the Plenary motion from the London Assembly calling for the same support last month.“
