Maximum Taxi Licence Age

"This Assembly notes that the Mayor plans a phased reduction of the maximum age of a licenced taxi from 15 years to 12 years. He also plans to change the criteria for annual registration by mandating the maximum age, meaning that, from November 2019, a taxi will longer be registered unless it has one whole year left before its maximum age, rather than one day as at present.

This will, at a stroke, remove approximately 3,000 taxis from service in the year beginning November 2019, as well as another 1,500 in the year beginning November 2020, and a further 1,500 in the year beginning November 2021.

The Assembly notes that the Mayor currently allows only one model to be licenced new: the LEVC ZEC TX, but production levels of the LEVC ZEC TX are nowhere near high enough to replace the 6,000 taxis which will be removed from service over the next 3 years.

The effect of this will cause real hardship and disruption to many London taxi drivers who simply will not be able to purchase or hire a new taxi due to lack of supply. Thus at least 6,000 taxi drivers will be unable to work which will cause financial, emotional and mental hardship to them and their families.

The Assembly therefore calls upon the Mayor to reconsider his plans and to maintain the maximum taxi licence age at 15 years.

We also call upon the Mayor to restore the Mercedes Vito as an approved vehicle for first-time taxi registrations until such time as there is greater supply and competition in the market for new taxis, and more electric charging points are available in Central London which can be accessed easily by taxi drivers.”