Taxi Driver Online

Nothing particularly new here, but last gasp attempt at eleventh hour to make the council change their minds.

To be honest, and as I've said previously, suspect those who are compliant will be happy enough to get rid of a couple of hundred cabs. And if there are any more extensions and exemptions then those who have put a lot of money into complying would understandably be 'raging'.

Not sure about the 350 figure, though - I thought it was a lot lower, but can't be bothered wading through all the numbers again


Glasgow faces taxi crisis as 350 cabs set to be forced off road due to Low Emission Zone as council nets £1m through restrictions

https://www.scottishdailyexpress.co.uk/ ... 0-32861134

Glasgow Taxis have written to Glasgow City Council and SNP leader Susan Aitken to ask for further amnesty for hundreds of taxi drivers who will be forced off the road next month.

Glasgow is facing a taxi crisis in just a few weeks as an estimated 350 are set to be forced off the road in June thanks to the low emission zone (LEZ). Taxi drivers were handed a year-long exemption when the controversial restrictions were brought in last year to give them time to upgrade their vehicles so they were compliant.

But due to a lack of available upgrades and expertise, hundreds of black cabbies have been unable to do this, and now face losing their livelihood on June 1. They could be fined £60 for entering the city centre from that date.

A final plea has been made to Glasgow City Council and SNP leader Susan Aitken to offer a lifeline to these cabbies who have offered to "offset emissions" through other means while they wait to upgrade their vehicles. Nationalist ministers do this every time they fly abroad to decrease their carbon footprint.

The call comes after it was revealed that the local authority is cashing in through the LEZ as it has netted £1m in just under a year since it was brought in. It began on June 1 last year and by April 13, the council has received £1,010,585 in penalty charge payments from people driving non-compliant vehicles into the restricted zone.

It has been claimed that this money would be reinvested in local net zero and clean air projects but these have not been decided yet. LEZs are set to be launched on June 1 in Aberdeen, Dundee and Edinburgh.

Glasgow Taxis chairman Dougie McPherson has written to Ms Aitken and councillors and asked for cab drivers to be given extra time to upgrade their vehicles. The letter states: "As you are aware, Glasgow is set lose around 350 public hire operators on 1 June 2024 with the application of the Low Emission Zone (LEZ) – each one being a small Glasgow business.

“Given the huge steps taken by the taxi trade in Glasgow in recent years, we believe it would be folly for the City Council to allow these businesses and the many livelihoods they support to simply disappear overnight in the context of actual improvement to air quality in the City Centre.”

It adds: "The vast majority of the taxi operators in Glasgow support of the Council’s commitment to improving air quality. Most operators now have an identified pathway to full LEZ compliance but, for many, it will simply not be achievable over the next 2 week(s).

“As stated, the emissions of all such vehicles over the next 12 months is the equivalent to two transatlantic flights! Without any attempt to belittling the wider environmental considerations, and Glasgow’s role in improving its own air quality, surely the City Council agrees with our contention that this cannot be allowed as the justification for the loss of 350 viable small Glasgow businesses.

“Glasgow Taxis asks that Glasgow City Council uses the powers available to allow those taxis operators to continue to trade beyond 1 June 2024, and moreover to continue to serve the needs to the City, as the vehicles and solutions become available over the coming year – and, where deemed necessary, to allow such small businesses to offset their emissions as per many other larger UK and international companies operating in Glasgow.”

The Scottish Tories hit out at Glasgow's LEZ and claimed it was "continuing to hammer hard-pressed motorists." Transport spokesman Graham Simpson said: "The scheme was shambolically rolled out by the SNP-led council and they have failed to learn any lessons over the past 12 months.

“We know that nearly 40 per cent of the council’s own vehicles are still not compliant, yet motorists have been hit to the tune of over £1million in fines. It is crucial that other cities who are about to introduce their own low emission zones do not repeat Glasgow’s mistakes, while SNP-led Glasgow must be fully upfront about what this money they have raked in is being spent on.”

A council spokeswoman said: “Glasgow’s city centre Low Emission Zone has been introduced to tackle unacceptably high levels of the harmful pollutant nitrogen dioxide. Unlike carbon emissions, this air pollutant, which particularly affects the most vulnerable in society such as the very young and the elderly, cannot be offset.

“Glasgow’s LEZ has been well publicised and had an extensive lead-in time. And at every stage since the intention to introduce a scheme was agreed, we have supported the taxi sector move toward compliance. We have consistently encouraged eligible operators to take advantage of Scottish Government funding toward cleaner, new vehicles, or to retrofit existing vehicles - with £2.4m paid in retrofit grants since 2019 for taxis in our region. We also amended licensing conditions to expand the options available to operators of taxis which could not be retrofitted due to vehicle age.

“Eligible operators were also granted an exemption from the scheme’s first year of operation, and we will show further flexibilities beyond this point, but only for operators who can show they are actively taking steps to meet the cleaner LEZ standards. To equitably balance the health and environmental benefits of Glasgow’s LEZ, whilst continuing to support taxi operators, where an exemption is extended beyond the end of May, it will be for the shortest period possible.”