For the record, this is the Wirral story from a couple of weeks ago also based on the Taxi Shop survey (a link to this was posted in another thread, but not the full article, so some may have read this previously).
Wirral taxi drivers in debt and homeless because of 'lack of support'https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/li ... s-20193253"I don’t think we will ever recover from the pandemic."Wirral taxi drivers have said the lack of support during the pandemic has left them in debt and homeless.
One has said they do not think they will ever financially recover from a year of lockdowns and no assistance from the government or local councils.
Drivers are reporting up to an 80% drop in takings despite the service continuing to transport NHS staff and key workers, delivering food and prescriptions to the old and the vulnerable, and now take the elderly for their Covid vaccinations.
One Wirral private hire driver said he lost his home and has had to move in with his in-laws, he said: "I’ve been a private hire driver for 17 years. We’ve had no backing from the government and the council hasn't really done anything for us.
"I owe my wife's mum and brother over £6,000. We’ve had to move out of our rented property and move in with the wife's mum. The finance company repossessed the car I was using as a taxi."
Most of the self-employed, including taxi drivers, should be eligible for the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme SEISS grants if they meet the criteria.
And Wirral Council is part of the Liverpool City Region Taxi Driver Support Scheme which has allocated £3.5m to help those licensed by the City Region as of March 23, 2020.
This has meant eligible drivers in Wirral received a payment of £100 prior to Christmas and a further payment of £200 in early March 2021.
But some have found they have slipped through the cracks or it is not enough, another Wirral private hire driver of six years said not enough was being done by local councils, he said: "The government has totally ditched drivers. Depending on the area you are badged, some of the local councils have tried to help drivers. But where I am badged it’s been a disgrace.
"To date, all they have done is give drivers £100 towards their license plate renewal last year.
"It will take at least a couple of good years work-wise for me to be able to replace the savings that I have had to use to get by over the past twelve months.
"I have not had any financial assistance such as the SEISS grants [Self-Employment Income Support Scheme], basically being told to use what we have saved for retirement - and stuff the future."
When the lockdown was imposed last March, the UK came to a standstill with only key workers leaving their homes, a survey by The Taxi Shop, a taxi car supplier, revealed that 97% of cabbies had seen their incomes slashed.
A North-West taxi driver, who did not want to say where he was from, said he is struggling to feed his family.
He said: "The local council has been disgraceful... I’ve received a £100 grant. I don’t think we will ever recover from the pandemic.
"I’m very anxious as we are approximately 80% down in takings, I have a young family to feed, and my wife is on furlough."
A spokesperson for The Taxi Shop said: "The majority of drivers are self-employed, so when there’s no work, there’s no income. Most people stopped using cabs very early in the crisis, and the few customers remaining were potentially spreading the virus. Drivers weren’t given enough information or protection to work safely and it led to high infection rates.
"Taxi drivers are the ‘unsung heroes’ of the current crisis, a 4th emergency service that has continued to support local communities.
"Yet with much of the UK a ghost town, drivers are struggling to survive. Many cabs remain parked up or in storage; and many drivers have thrown in the towel, unable to survive."
A Treasury spokesperson said: “Throughout this crisis, we have done all we can to support jobs and livelihoods through our £350 billion package of support, and our self-employed and furlough schemes are among the most generous in the world.
“We acknowledge that it has not been possible to support everyone in the way they might want. Funding is designed to target those who need it most and protect the taxpayer against fraud and abuse.”
Steve McNamara, General Secretary of the Licensed Taxi Drivers Association said: "Self-employed taxi drivers have been eagerly awaiting this announcement and will be relieved to know that there is support in place to get them through the challenging few months still ahead.
"Once restrictions start to ease, the welcome announcement of a fifth SEISS grant will also give our members some much-needed security, allowing them to get back to work and begin to rebuild, as demand slowly picks up.
"There is more to do to ensure that the taxi trade can recover from this crisis, but this is a positive start. We are also pleased that the Chancellor has opened up the scheme to the newly self-employed with 2019/20 tax returns, which is an important change that will help many people who have had little to no income and no access to financial support for almost a year."
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