Travel chaos in London as cab drivers plan taxi ‘go slow’ protestCabbies in London are threatening to bring London to a standstill today with a protest against Boris Johnson’s taxi pollution measures.
Drivers in the capital plan to take part in a ‘go-slow’ through the city centre from 2pm, in the second demonstration against the Mayor of London this summer.
Back in June up to 12,000 cab drivers clogged up the streets to protest against various TfL policies.
Today’s protest is being organised by The Cabbies Against Boris (CAB) organisation, who say Mr Johnson is wrong to have scrapped older taxis on pollution grounds, pointing to its own research showing new vehicles contribute more to pollution than older ones.
The Mayor is due to appear before the House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee tomorrow, when he is expected to be questioned about the ban.
CAB, who said its protest was being supported by the London Cab Drivers Club, the United Cabbies Group and by the RMT, called the London Taxi Age Limit ‘improper and unlawful’.
In a statement about the demo it said: “The London Taxi trade has been subjected to many improper decisions by the Mayor and TFL.
“The London Taxi Age Limit is improper and unlawful, and deliberately causes financial hardship to taxi drivers, who are the group of workers most badly affected by toxic pollution.
“The Mayor has failed in his duty of care to protect the public and urgent action needs to be taken.
“In 2013 Defra released a report after the Environmental Research Group tested 10,000 taxis which confirmed that the new taxis were creating more pollution than those that had been scrapped.
“Emissions reduction of PM could have been achieved by use of Clean Diesel, an Engine Clean Up Process, or retrofitting Diesel Particulate Filters.
“Why has the Mayor needlessly scrapped 3,000 taxis and why does he continue with this improper policy of scrapping taxis which are cleaner than the new taxis?”
source:
http://www.london24.com/news/transport/ ... _1_3763560
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