Scott told GB News presenter Lee Anderson: “You’re seeing a narrowing of the public highway – so what’s happening is taxis are being pushed into the normal traffic, for instance, a bus lane is being significantly reduced or even in some instances taken away.
“So you’re pushing taxis into the normal traffic, so they’re losing that advantage that they have been able to use bus lanes and get people from A to B quicker.”
Detailing the key issues affecting black cab drivers, Scott highlighted how the number of licences for private hire taxis is “off the scale” in comparison to the black cabs, and the cost of the vehicle itself is “very expensive”.
Scott explained: “The amount of private vehicle licences that are being issued weekly is completely off the scale. Other countries and other major cities have got caps on it – we haven’t for some reason.
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“There’s so many issues affecting London taxi drivers at the moment, and the price of the vehicle isn’t helping. The access that they require to all streets and roads, considerable traffic congestion, which isn’t being helped by the continued licensing of private hire vehicles, which is virtually just under 108,000 private vehicles on the road.
“Compared to about 17,000 London taxis that we’ve got, so all of these factors aren’t helping.”
When pressed by what London Mayor Sadiq Khan is doing to help the black cab drivers, Scott admitted that despite his claim that he would be a “saviour” for the industry, he has in fact been “the opposite”.
He added: “Mayor Khan, bless him, when he was professing to come to election the first time around, he sat in the back of a black cab and he proclaimed that he was going to be the saviour of the London taxi profession. And it’s proved to be exactly the opposite.
Experts have urged Sadiq Khan to act to support the black cab industry PA
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