On the one hand, nothing particularly new here, on the other hand, it's quite an interesting read. Not sure if some of the claims are overdone, but no doubt a grain of truth in them. I mean, do we all know what's happened to the drivers in our manor who've never reappeared?
Belfast taxi drivers on losing hundreds of colleagues during the pandemichttps://www.belfastlive.co.uk/news/belf ... s-20778721We spoke to two drivers about how coronavirus has hit their industryOver 800 taxi drivers have been lost from our roads since the pandemic struck Northern Ireland according to official figures.
Potential customers in Belfast report long waits for cabs on weekends while firms in the city say they can’t get enough drivers to fill the gap.
Taxi drivers themselves say they are still finding it tough with many needing support to get back behind the wheel.
While some left the industry for driving opportunities at supermarkets and global brands like Amazon, others we are told, suffered breakdowns or took their own lives as a result of the stresses they faced.
Belfast public hire driver Sean Beckett had to hand back a vehicle he had already paid £27,000 off because there was no work to help him “keep up with the payments”.
He believes around 100 of his black cab colleagues have been lost “during this pandemic”.
“Most drivers have been impacted very hard,” he explained.
“Some had breakdowns and I think there has been a few that committed [died by] suicide. It’s affected a lot of people in a big, big way. There’s people that have lost heart in even trying to go back to work.
“The toughest part of it was for the guys who had vehicles on HP and had to hand them back. They were basically sitting on the street for a whole day and some were maybe going home with £8. The highest I heard a driver going home with was actually £21 after a 12-hour shift.”
Sean has slammed the lack of support from Stormont as those in the industry floundered.
“The government, did they do anything for us? No,” he added. “They gave us two grants of £1,500, which a lot of drivers didn’t qualify for the first one, myself included.
Sean said the grants “didn’t help them to survive”.
“We got a kick in the teeth. £3,000 was a joke,” he added.
Gerry Maxwell, from Taxi Drivers Matter, says he was one of six drivers who took legal action over the lack of support offered after coronavirus hit.
He added: “There is a shortage of drivers and the reason why there is a shortage of drivers is some are waiting on their second injection... some of them had to hand their cars back, some had to cancel their insurance so they’re sitting now and they haven’t got a car or they haven’t got the money to insure a car.
“They are in a catch-22 situation.”
Gerry estimates the number of drivers has fallen further from official statistics.
“There was 5,100-odd taxi drivers who got grants off the Department for Infrastructure - so I think that will have gone down more,” he explained.
“With the change in the operator licensing and the PSV there were a lot of people that didn’t bother renewing again.
“There’s a whole lot of factors as to why these drivers are dropping down and I would say it’s to do with the amount that they are paying on tests - you have a to have a license to drive, then you have to have a taxi drivers license - then your car has to have an operators license - it’s all money going out and nothing coming back in again.
“A lot of people found other jobs for Amazon and delivery jobs. I know a few are driving with Sainsburys, Asda and Tesco and they are getting a tenner an hour. We weren’t getting that taxi-ing.
“They found that the grass was greener on the other side - whenever you take out your depot rents, your insurance and your car payment... you’re maybe left with £250 a week.”
In relation to weekend availability issues, Gerry added: “I’ve been a taxi driver for 36 years and the weekend has always been a problem - it’s supply and demand.
“If everyone is being thrown out of every entertainment venue at the same time - obviously there is going to be a strain.”
Albert Hewitt from Unite added: “A lot of the drivers have families and they were struggling to make ends meet.
“There was people on who couldn’t have worked to pay bills, they were in arrears with rent, mortgages.
“The money coming from the government didn’t seem to be enough.”
Official Department for Infrastructure figures Northern Ireland has 8,781 registered taxi drivers as of 2020/21.
That’s a drop of 806 from 9,590 in 2019/20 and almost 1,487 from 10,268 in 2018/19. But DfI believe the pandemic had an effect.
A DfI spokesperson said: “The decline in taxi driver numbers during 2020/21 is likely to have been impacted by the Covid pandemic. There has been limited opportunity for first time applicants to apply for their taxi driver test due to Covid restrictions on driver testing.
“However, the Driver and Vehicle Agency (DVA) resumed practical driving tests and theory tests for all categories, including taxi drivers, on 23 April 2021.
“In addition, some existing taxi drivers, whose taxi licence expired during this period, may have decided not to incur the cost of renewing their taxi driver’s licence until the Covid restrictions were lifted.”
[The rest of this article seems to basically comprise one long and quite technical official quote. Never sure whether stuff like this is a genuine attempt to provide as much detail as possible, or whether the intention is just to confuse and hide the true picture a bit. But I don't really think readers need to know the precise sections and title of the legislation, for example.
But wasn't sure initially if it was all one quote, because there should be quote marks at the beginning of each paragraph, but there isn't, so it's a tad misleading in that regard. But pretty sure all the following is just one long official quote.]
A DfI spokesperson said: “The Department for Infrastructure carries regulatory responsibility for the taxi industry. Our statutory functions do not include the power to create grant support for hardship or loss of income for these sectors. However, the Executive agreed that there were grounds to introduce a bespoke financial support scheme. The new powers were granted to the Department by the First Minister and deputy First Minister on 3rd November 2020, under section 1(1) and (3) of the Financial Assistance Act (Northern Ireland) 2009 and 10 days later the Minister opened the first Taxi Driver Financial Assistance Scheme for applications to cover the period to September 2020.
The scheme provided financial support for overheads incurred by taxi drivers and was in addition to other financial support provided, such as through the self-employment income support scheme (SEISS). The first scheme paid grants of £1500 to over 4,350 applicants, (almost 95% of applicants), with a total cost of some £6.5m.
Some drivers were unable to avail of the first scheme due to breaks in their insurance so the Minister asked officials to explore further options for those drivers who were not eligible for the scheme.
In January the Executive agreed to the development by the Department for Infrastructure of a second financial assistance scheme for taxi drivers to cover the period from October 2020 to March 2021. The second scheme closed at the end of February, taxi drivers with breaks in their insurance were eligible to apply for this scheme and retrospectively to the first scheme, and within one week 4,651 applications had been processed to payment, some 92% of the eligible applications received. Some £9m in financial assistance has been paid to taxi drivers through the second scheme.
Throughout the year the Minister and Departmental Officials met regularly with the taxi industry and their representatives. In addition to the financial assistance schemes, the Minister has also introduced regulatory easements for the sector amounting to over £1m – this included allowing the automatic renewal of taxi vehicle licences, free of charge and without prior test. for a period of 12 months up to the end of May. The Minister also authorised the delivery of on-line periodic training and renewed 5 year licences without a medical report."
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