Taxi Driver Online

Streetspace: Mayor of London and TfL 'acted unlawfully ' in road scheme

The Mayor of London and Transport for London acted unlawfully in a road scheme which restricted licensed taxis, the High Court has ruled.

The "Streetspace" scheme introduced bus-only corridors, which banned turns and stopped access to taxi drivers across central London in May.

Mrs Justice Beverley Lang ruled Sadiq Khan and TfL "took advantage of the pandemic" to push "radical changes".

TfL said it was "disappointed" and it would appeal the ruling.

The scheme was introduced to lower car traffic in response to the coronavirus pandemic, TfL said.

Taxi unions and associations raised concerns over the "Streetspace" plans after they said they would lose their bulk of trade with restricted access to Low Traffic Neighbourhoods from 6 May 2020.

'Unfair and irrational'

The case was brought by United Trade Action Group (UTAG) and the Licensed Taxi Drivers Association (LTDA).

Mrs Lang told the court the mayor and TfL failed to distinguish taxis from "general traffic" and failed to recognise them as a mode of public transport.

She said: "It was both unfair and irrational to introduce such extreme measures, if it was not necessary to do so, when they impacted so adversely on certain sections of the public."

The High Court has now quashed the "Streetspace" plan, Interim Guidance to Boroughs and the A10 Bishopsgate Traffic Order.

General Secretary of the LTDA, Steve McNamara, said he was "delighted".

He said: "It's fantastic to see the Judge rightly recognising the key role licensed taxis play in our great City. This is an extremely important judgement for London's hard working taxi drivers and the passengers who rely on them."

TfL said it would seek to appeal the judgment.

A spokesperson said: "Temporary 'Streetspace' schemes are enabling safer essential journeys during this exceptionally challenging time and are vital to ensuring that increased car traffic does not threaten London's recovery from coronavirus."

A Mayor of London spokesperson said the "Streetspace" route had "long suffered with a poor safety record and slow bus speeds".

They added: "We mustn't get through one public health crisis only to face another caused by congestion and toxic air pollution."

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IDFIMH

A p*ss poor excuse from a car hating Mayor.......how the hell is Car Traffic affecting the Corona virus.?

Judge gave TfL quite a kicking.

https://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/Admin/2021/72.html

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IDFIMH

Yes, I read all 35,000 words while I was having my tea as well

Well I won't be reading that, but I'm guessing it's more about procedural failures rather than the substantive case based on Covid and the environment etc?

So it's good that they won, but bad news if it was just because of procedural failures etc...

A rushed decision which backfired instead of appealing maybe TFL should think things through and realise people want a choice of which transport option they use

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Taxis Are Public Transport too

Join the campaign to get April fools jokes banned for 364 days a year !

TFL suffers from severe megalomania.

This matter goes to appeal tomorrow according to TaxiPoint website.

https://www.taxi-point.co.uk/post/taxi- ... s-tomorrow

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IDFIMH