Taxi Driver Online

Taxi drivers in Oxford have been granted extra time to switch to electric cars after they raised fears about the pressures facing the industry, including Uber and the Botley Road closure.


Oxford City Council introduced a policy in 2019 to make hackney carriages (black cabs) and other private hire vehicles meet the ultra-low emissions standards, meaning they would have to convert their vehicles to electric ones.

It was meant to be put in place in January 2026, after it was extended by a year last February.

The City of Oxford Licenced Taxicab Association (COLTA) asked for the policy to be postponed until after local government organisation has happened in 2028.

The council decided to approve the delay at the council’s licensing committee meeting on Monday, September 22.

Representatives from the group stressed that they cared about the environment but said that imposing the requirement for electric vehicles would make their lives harder during a challenging time for their trade.


These challenges include the Botley Road closure, the closure of nightclubs in the city centre, and the introduction of Uber in Oxford last December.

Speaking after the meeting, Sajad Khan, secretary of COLTA, said: “The decision on Monday came as a massive relief to those drivers who have yet to switch to electric.

"We believe that extra time granted will certainly help those drivers better plan this investment and align themselves with the policy.

“We have worked very closely with the council, including councillors and officers.

“We want the best for our city, and we are on the path on doing our bit for the environment.”

It costs taxi drivers £82,000 to make their vehicles both electric and wheelchair accessible if they pay upfront, which goes up to £102,000 with added interest.

Already 40 of the existing 107 licensed hackney carriages have switched to being zero emissions capable.

Local government reorganisation means that Oxfordshire’s existing councils will be abolished, and new councils will be set up in their place by 2028.

The Government is yet to decide how many councils Oxfordshire will have or what the boundaries will look like.

At the moment, Oxfordshire’s existing councils have different licensing rules about whether their taxis have to be zero emissions capable.

Councillor Simon Ottino proposed that the council should extend the deadline until local government reorganisation has taken place.

He said: “We don’t know what that council is going to be […] but what we do know for certain is that this [council] is going to get swamped by hackney carriage licenses from elsewhere who aren’t of the same standard as ours.

“It would be ridiculous to change their taxis now given that the next council may not even require that.

“The people that they are in competition with are in much cheaper vehicles.”

He added that the future council would be likely to push forward the electric vehicle policy, and that the taxi drivers should prepare for this.

Oxford City Council will decide whether to give the final sign off to the p

It needs to be delayed for good.

Eventually, the older cabs will die; let that be the factor that leads drivers to buy those crazy priced vehicles, not an arbitrary date.

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IDFIMH

and who knows maybe hydrogen fuelled cars might be available by then

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lack of modern legislation is the iceberg sinking the titanic of the transport sector