The union which provides a collective voice for the Glasgow Hackney trade is warning that 1,000 taxis could disappear from the streets when Phase 2 of Glasgow's Low Emissions Zone (LEZ) comes into force in June of 2023.
Around 1,000 Hackney cabs - out of a fleet of 1,420 - are currently non-compliant with the emission standards that all petrol and diesel vehicles entering the city centre LEZ will need to meet next year.
Unite Glasgow Cab section is pleading with Glasgow City Council for an exemption for at least two years of enforcement for hackney cabs, while warning that the trade will lose hundreds of cabs and livelihoods if an extension is not forthcoming.
Steven Grant, Secretary of Unite Glasgow Cab section, believes the LEZ requirements to be "probably the biggest crisis we've ever faced" and says the expectation on Hackney drivers to renew their cabs to meet the deadline of June of 2023 is "impossible" -especially coming after the covid pandemic - which saw drivers' earnings fall by around 80%.
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He told Glasgow Live: "We see this as probably the biggest crisis we've ever faced to be quite honest. We've had two years of covid and the pandemic and earnings being down 80% during all the lockdowns and the restrictions we had as well when we weren't locked down, so a lot of peoples finances have been absolutely shattered through it.
"So to expect us to start renewing cabs to meet a deadline of June of 2023 is impossible, we just can't do it. Just to put you into then picture about how serious it actually is, we are talking of somewhere in the region of 1,000 cabs out of a fleet of 1,420 that are non-compliant at the moment.
"That could disappear from the streets along with 1,000 jobs at least of the operators that operate those taxis. So yeh it's pretty serious stuff. It actually dwarfs what's went on in McVities in response to that.
"There's already a shortage out there because a lot of drivers didn't make it through the pandemic, it was just too difficult and support was limited. So they went and done other things and haven't returned to the trade. You'll see it this weekend again that there's going to be severe shortages of taxi drivers and private hire drivers in the city. What's happening now will be a drop in the ocean compared to what will happen in June of 2023.
"Even if the guys could access finance - which is a problem at the moment because a lot of the finance companies left the market because of the problems with the taxi industries through the pandemic - there is a huge shortage of new and used vehicles to replace our vehicles with if we could get the finance. That's a huge problem we have.
"We've only realistically got two choices of vehicles at the moment and that is the electric taxi that you'll see on the street in limited numbers. It comes with a price tag of £60,000 so that's why there's been so poor an uptake for it."
Steven believes that the council should allow for a delay in the implementation of Phase 2 of the LEZ until 2024 to allow for a one-step transition for hackney drivers to move to electric vehicles, rather than retrofit diesel vehicles to comply with the rules, which require Euro 4 emission standards for petrol vehicles and Euro 6 for diesel vehicles.
He said: "There's really big problems down the road. The best route for taxi drivers at the moment is to retrofit their vehicles, there's grants available to retrofit vehicles, but what I said about the used vehicle market, it's damaged beyond repair through the covid pandemic. The Euro 5 vehicles that we need are so scarce to convert to Euro 6, you can't convert Euro 4 vehicles - and a lot of the fleet is Euro 4 so they can't do those conversions and will have to scrap those vehicles and get a replacement Euro 5 vehicle to retrofit to Euro 6.
"There's going to be a hiatus for electric vehicles coming onto the market. We've tried to explain this to the council, that we'd like them to give us a bit more time due to the effects of the pandemic. A lot of guys have had their finances ruined just to stay solvent. If they gave us more time the transition might be done in one-step to electric vehicles rather than pushing guys into diesel vehicles that they are going to invest it and will have to keep on the road for much longer.
"We should be making the transition in one-step, but the electric market is not there at the moment. It's not mature enough, we don't have the infrastructure. It's just at the beginning and there's just not enough choice and enough competition."
"Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Dundee will not be enforcing this on their hackney trade until mid-2024 so we feel there is some discrimination there as well in being made to start in June 2023. That year could make an awful lot of difference, we would like longer to try and make that transition straight to electric, but a year could make an absolute world of difference for us."
He feels that Unite Glasgow Cab section's pleas for a delay - or exemption for hackney cabs - have fallen upon deaf ears at the council, which has forced them to start a petition to try and encourage councillors into a rethink.
"We spoke to Anna Richardson who is the Convenor for Sustainability and Traffic Reduction and we put all our points to her to be quite honest there is no sympathy at all, they see it as a public health policy and they are not for budging on it.
"We have emailed all 85 councillors in Glasgow with our LEZ objection, we done a formal objection to it pleading with them to consider an exemption for the hackney trade until we can find our feet and until the electric taxi market is more mature.
"I don't think they quite realise just how damaging the pandemic was for taxi finances. It's something that really needs to be addressed."
In response, a Glasgow City Council spokesperson said: “We have already seen improvements to Glasgow’s air quality since the LEZ was introduced in 2018, with a greater number of greener, less polluting, buses now travelling through our city centre and beyond.
“Increasing the scope of Glasgow’s LEZ to include all vehicles by June 2023, is far-reaching, but also necessary to ensure that longstanding breaches of air quality objectives are tackled, particularly given the disproportionate health impacts that air pollution has on the most vulnerable.
“There has been extensive engagement with the taxi trade since Glasgow’s Low Emission Zone was initially proposed to ensure the trade are fully informed and are aware of the financial aid available to operators to become compliant.
“While core aspects of Low Emission Zones in Scotland have been determined at national level, the council can decide upon the shape, size and scope of our LEZ, based upon local requirements . As such we have committed to enforcing Glasgow’s LEZ from June next year subject to the relevant approvals, following an initial delay caused by Covid-19.
"This approach has included due consideration of a number of factors such as the nature and extent of pollution levels, the expected recovery from the pandemic and impact on future pollution, the delay from the original timescale and the financial aid available to affected groups and individuals.”
To sign the Unite Glasgow Cab section petition, click here
