A role for black cabs

sir – As representatives of London’s taxi trade, we write to highlight the urgent support black cab drivers need. Due to the coronavirus, we are facing an unprecedented drop in demand for our services. Government advice to work from home and only travel if necessary has rendered more than 20,000 cabbies in London essentially redundant through loss of trade.

Black cab drivers have long been the backbone of London, keeping business and communities moving. Without income, however, cabbies and their families will struggle to pay their bills and to afford finance payments. We need to see tax concessions and financial support for self-employed workers, including London black cab drivers, as a matter of urgency.

Transport services are shutting down, making it harder for key workers to get to work. Panic among shoppers is making deliveries more challenging. Our industry has always helped those in need, and this situation is no different. Whether it is transporting NHS workers or delivering goods, black cab drivers stand ready and willing to be put to use wherever it is deemed fit.

As an industry, we operate state-ofthe-art dispatch, monitor and control systems to record and direct custombuilt vehicles, which are designed to be easily cleaned and sterilised, and have a partition between driver and passenger. Individual companies have put programmes in place, but now we ask the Government to work with the cab industry to help put us to best use.

In the event of further restrictions on movement, we also ask that the Government class licensed taxi drivers as key workers, so that we can keep NHS staff and other frontline workers moving quickly and safely during this time of widespread disruption. Steve Mcnamara

General Secretary, Licensed Taxi Drivers’ Association

Wes Streeting MP (Lab)

Jim Kelly

Chair, London and Eastern cab section, Unite the Union and six others; see telegraph.co.uk