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Clean Air Zone: Sheffield hackney carriage taxi drivers warn changes will ‘decimate’ their trade
Sheffield taxi drivers have told councillors that their trade will be “decimated” because of the cost of complying with new city centre Clean Air Zone rules and new regulations.
Drivers said that many hackney carriage drivers may just opt to become private hire drivers instead because of the cost of new cabs compliant with the Clean Air Zone (CAZ) and their lack of availability.
Taxi drivers asked questions at a meeting of Sheffield City Council’s waste and street scene policy committee yesterday (Wednesday, February 15) which agreed a new hackney carriage policy.
The new policy originally stated that from January 2025 all newly-licensed vehicles must be zero emission capable but this has now been put back to January 2027 because of issues over vehicle demand, cost and lengthy waiting times.
Vehicles that meet the Euro 6 diesel emissions standard will avoid CAZ charges being introduced on the inner ring road and city centre from February 27.A report to the committee said that new electric and hybrid hackneys“are extremely expensive compared to their fossil fuel counterparts – an electric/hybrid is around £70K, whereas a Euro 6 diesel is somewhat cheaper.”
Cheapest option
The report adds: “It is thought likely, initially at least, that people will opt for the cheapest option, which will be a Euro 6 diesel, compliant with the CAZ.
“This compromise is deemed a necessary step, as moving directly to hybrid and electric will see the hackney fleet decimated and will have knock-on effects on the availability of wheelchair-accessible vehicles.”All new hackney carriages will also have to be wheelchair accessible.
Driver Naheem Hanif spoke during the public questions section of the meeting. He said: “What contingency plans has the council made if 88 per cent of drivers that own non-CAZ compliant taxis decide to leave the hackney trade and join Uber, Bolt or City, where they can earn more and have access to a wider range of compliant vehicles?
“The hackney trade will be decimated.”
Mr Hanif has been looking for a new cab that seats a minimum of six but said he is unable to source one despite a countrywide search. He found a vehicle to carry eight with space for two folding wheelchairs but this is not a full hackney so would not be allowed.
Electric vehicles are even harder to find, he said.
Funding packages
Committee chair Coun Joe Otten said that the council had negotiated funding packages from the government to cover grants and low-interest loans of up to £10,000. This includes retrospective payments for some drivers who have already upgraded and funding for new exhaust systems.
He said drivers who take up the funding will get an exemption until their new vehicle arrives or the retrofitting is completed.
Mr Hanif added: “We’re struggling to get taxis that are wheelchair accessible. In the past 15 years as a hackney driver I’ve only had about four flag-downs from wheelchair users.
“The rest of the jobs have come through City Taxis – if you’re a disabled person you’re not going to sit outside your house to wait for the hackney to go past – you’re going to ring a company, aren’t you?”
He asked why a 100 per cent wheelchair-accessible fleet was necessary.
Coun Otten said that it is important that wheelchair users have adequate access to cabs. He said that 100 per cent wheelchair-accessible cabs was the case in several other cities – places such as Barnsley and Leeds who did not make it mandatory found that most of the wheelchair-accessible cabs were taken up with contract work.
He added: “I think we are moving a considerable way to make it easier in terms of the age limit and types of vehicles for people to maintain a hackney carriage.”
Vehicles ‘extortion’
Former city councillor and prominent taxi drivers’ campaigner Ibrar Hussain said: “The biggest struggle now is to find a vehicle in the UK – not England, the UK. There are no vehicles available.
“When the vehicles are available they are extortion, so we need help and assistance with all the losses we have.”
He asked for another six months to be added to the seven-year age limit for new cabs to help with the availability problem, which councillors agreed to.
Nasar Raoof, GMB trade union representative for taxi drivers, said that the number of hackney drivers has dropped from 900 to 500 and is falling “day to day”.
He said that women and vulnerable people could be left stranded and asked: “Should we not be doing something?” He said mixed fleets with saloon cars included could be an answer.
Earlier in the meeting, James Martin of Disability Sheffield Centre for Independent Living said his group welcomes the wheelchair-accessible cabs decision and gives a cautious welcome to the move to allow rear-loading vehicles as well.
He called on the council to review taxi ranks to ensure suitable adjustments for rear-loading taxis to be able to get wheelchair users in safely.
Difficult times
Coun Otten told taxi drivers: “I hope we’ve given some relief in relatively difficult times. The problems you face are not of our creation but the Clean Air Zone so please direct your fury at them.
“It’s all the government’s fault – well, it’s partly the government’s fault, although also the council has a role in setting it up and it is something that is needed to get our air within legal limits.
“It is frustrating, isn’t it, that the process for approving grants and loans has not worked for everybody and I really do hope that we can get that sorted.”
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