Drivers are unable to work until their licence has been issued, and Transport for London, which is responsible for taxi and private-hire licensing in the capital, recently introduced new licensing software and apologised for any delays in processing licences, which are valid for three years.
Debt
Last month, the BBC reported that hundreds of drivers working for taxi-hailing apps such as Uber and Bolt were having to rack up huge debt to pay bills including their mortgage, vehicle finance, and taxi insurance while they are unable to work.
The IWGB union raised the issue with TfL after delays left “some drivers unable to work for months at a time, leading them to take out loans, while others have missed payments on their mortgages”.
The BBC highlighted the case of one driver who says the issuing of his new licencing doesn’t mean the end of his problems.
Private-hire driver Kambiz Hemati said he has paid £1,800 during the process, including for medical tests, a DBS check and the TfL fee.
“I haven’t been able to work for over a month. With no income I’ve had to borrow more and more money to keep up with my mortgage payments, my car instalments, my insurance.
“The frustrating thing is that even once TfL finally issues me with a licence, the nightmare won’t end there – I’ll have to work day and night for months to climb out of the debt I have accrued on account of TfL’s disorganisation.”
Apology
TfL apologised for the delays and told the BBC it had “experienced some issues which have impacted our processing times, compounding the difficulties we experienced following the cyber incident last year”.
A spokesperson said: “We take our responsibilities for licensing taxi and private-hire drivers extremely seriously, to ensure the provision of safe taxi and private-hire services for the public.
“We have recently introduced a new licensing system which has delivered a number of benefits to licensees, including the ability to track their applications online.
“We are working closely with our system service provider to rectify any system issues and have increased the number of licensing staff who are processing and issuing licences.”
Following a meeting with the union last month, TfL had fast-tracked some of the urgent cases, and that at least 70 drivers had now received their licences as a result. But the union said “far too many drivers have still been left waiting”.
And Taxi Point reports that problems have continued since then. The GMB union told the publication that drivers who had uploaded their documents as required received error messages and were then repeatedly asked to upload the same documents.
Steve Garelick, GMB Regional Organiser, told Taxi Point: “Our members are extremely upset by this situation. These persistent system failures are directly impacting their ability to work and earn a living.
“As it stands, the system is currently not fit for purpose. We are urging TfL to resolve these ongoing problems and prevent further hardship for our members.”
TfL accepts there have been issues with software and has apologised, fast-tracking licences where possible. But as one driver pointed out, this doesn’t make the debt they have accrued disappear and they are going to have to work harder to clear arrears and repay loans.
It seems unfair that people who are working hard for a living are being penalised so heavily when they have done nothing wrong.
