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EPPING: Tony Georgiou sighed as he stood in entrance of a area filled with parked taxi cabs, admitting he has misplaced depend of what number of are there.
Many London taxi drivers hire their immediately recognizable black cabs from fleet firms akin to GB Taxi Providers, the place Georgiou is without doubt one of the homeowners.
However with London’s streets emptied by the coronavirus lockdown, many drivers are unable to maintain paying for his or her autos and are handing them again in droves.
“There’s in all probability round 150 to 200 autos which can be right here, which we’ve needed to take off the highway,” mentioned Georgiou, whose firm has parked its autos in Epping northeast of the capital. “I’ve misplaced depend.”
Famed worldwide, the British capital’s bulbous black cabs have been initially designed to accommodate a passenger in a prime hat.
To earn a license, drivers should cross a fiendishly tough examination referred to as “The Data,” which exams their recall of streets, routes and landmarks purely from reminiscence.
However fields filled with taxis are actually a mass phenomenon, mentioned Steve McNamara, common secretary of the Licensed Taxi Drivers’ Affiliation (LTDA).
“It’s occurring throughout, all around the M25 there are fields with cabs like that,” mentioned McNamara, referring to the primary orbital motorway round London.
He referred to as the scenario “completely and completely unprecedented” and “already not survivable for some.”
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The LTDA has about 11,000 members out of a complete variety of about 20,000 black cab drivers within the metropolis.
Georgiou mentioned that about 50 of the parked autos have already been focused by thieves who eliminated catalytic converters and diesel particulate filters that can price some £120,000 ($160,000) to exchange.
“I couldn’t let you know if we’re assured to get by way of this in the intervening time. It’s a wrestle,” he mentioned of his firm, which has been working for greater than 16 years.
At present, just some 20 p.c of cabs are working, McNamara mentioned, basing the evaluation on the affiliation’s personal car counts and official figures from Heathrow Airport.
The LTDA has about 11,000 members out of a complete variety of about 20,000 black cab drivers within the metropolis.
McNamara now needs taxi drivers to get extra monetary help from the federal government, arguing that they just lately invested in pricey electrical cabs and digital cost machines. Covid is “no doubt the prime issue” for falling numbers of taxis, he mentioned.
Uber and different ride-hailing apps are “completely not” an element, he added, arguing that their costs have crept up and drivers are unpredictable.
These cabbies nonetheless on the highway could also be incomes 20 p.c of their traditional earnings, which may vary from £15,000 to £80,000 per 12 months.
“We’ve misplaced 5,000 to six,000 autos since June,” he mentioned.
Some drivers have switched to creating deliveries for supermarkets however the “overwhelming majority” usually are not working, he added.
In response to official figures from Transport for London (TfL), the variety of licensed black cabs has gone down from greater than 19,000 on March 1 this 12 months to simply beneath 15,000 on November 8.
A TfL spokesman mentioned that it had suggested drivers on tips on how to keep protected and mentally wholesome in the course of the pandemic and so they have had grants to assist them purchase low-emission autos.
Drivers are “calling on the federal government for extra help” moderately than TfL, he mentioned. One cab driver, Sam Houston, was ready in a queue at Heathrow to get a fare.
With air journey constrained, hitting tourism, he mentioned that the wait may very well be 20 to 24 hours as an alternative of the conventional three.
The 45-year-old has been a taxi driver for eight years and says that in regular circumstances it’s a “good dwelling.”
However the COVID-19 interval is “probably the most tough time I’ve ever skilled,” he mentioned.
“The sensation it’s a semi-permanent change to the economic system, lots of people are discovering that extremely scary.”
Whereas some taxi drivers have claimed self-employed furlough payouts from the federal government, many haven’t certified, he mentioned, urging “focused help for our trade from native authorities and nationwide authorities.”
McNamara mentioned that taxi drivers needs to be singled out for assist, in the identical method that authorities helped eating places attempt to bounce again after their enforced closure.
“We’ve been hit equally onerous, if not tougher than the hospitality sector,” he mentioned.
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