Dodgy pedicab drivers are to be driven off the streets of London under a new licensing system in a bill in the King’s Speech.
The crackdown on the three-wheel vehicles is expected to be a stand-alone bill in Rishi Sunak’s new legislative plan to be unveiled on Tuesday.
Nickie Aiken, Conservative MP for the Cities of London and Westminster, told The Standard: “It is so important that we regulate pedicabs to make them safe to use.
“Currently we do not know if the vehicles are safe to be on the road, that the drivers are safe to take passengers, there is no regulation of fares which means time and time again tourists and visitors to London are ripped off, often by hundreds of pounds.”
Ms Aiken has campaigned for four years for pedicabs to be licensed.
“Now that we’ve secured the Bill it’s important to get it on the statute books as soon as possible,” she added.
“I hope with the support of the Government and the Opposition we could have it up and running by next summer.”
Transport for London has agreed to administer the new licensing scheme, she explained, which she expects to cut down on some of the noise nuisance from pedicabs.
“Too many drivers blast music from their pedicabs night and day causing huge disruption for local people,” she emphasised.
“The West End is a great place to go out but pedicabs have blighted the area for too long. With an official licensing scheme anti-social pedicabs should be packed off to history.”
The new legislation is expected to be based on two Private Members Bills which Ms Aiken tried to get through Parliament previously.
Her proposals would mean pedicabs will be licensed on a similar basis to other private hire vehicles in the capital, including setting standards for operators, drivers and the three-wheel bikes, checking that the drivers have the right to work in the UK, and allowing licensed operators to provide a service to passengers who can be reassured of their safety.
Susan Hall, Tory candidate for Mayor of London, stressed: “We simply cannot leave this industry as the Wild West any longer. Londoners and visitors to our city deserve so much better.”
Adam Hug, Labour leader of Westminster City Council, welcomed the bill but stressed there were ongoing problems with e-bikes.
"There are up to 2,000 e-bikes and hundreds of pedicabs in the borough at any given time and with no regulations around their hire, operation or ‘parking’, forcing disabled people, people with prams and other pedestrians to walk in busy roads," he said.
The pedicab clampdown appeared in the last Queen’s Speech as part of the proposed Transport Bill but it ran into the sand after Boris Johnson resigned in June and his administration ended.
King Charles, who has returned from a four-day State Visit to Kenya, will deliver his first speech as Monarch on Tuesday to lay out a government’s legislative programme.
Mr Sunak hopes the array of proposed new laws will boost his chances of pulling off a General Election victory against the odds next year, with polls currently putting Labour some 15 to 20 points ahead.
The King’s Speech will include a bill to phase out some leaseholds in England and Wales, to clamp down on expensive fees imposed on homeowners.
The bill is expected to ban leaseholds for new houses, but not new flats.
A Renters Reform Bill pledges to deliver a long-promised ban on “no-fault” evictions in England, but this may take many months to come in so as not to overwhelm the courts.
Legislation will also require the North Sea Transition Authority to invite applications for new oil and gas production licences on an annual basis in a move which the Government says aims to “safeguard the prosperity of our country” but critics say it is watering down its net zero action.
Mr Sunak told the Cabinet last week that the speech would focus on measures to “grow the economy, to strengthen society and to keep people safe”.
He stressed that the State Opening of Parliament would be “a big occasion, not least because it’s the first King’s Speech in 70-odd years”.
He also highlighted the Illegal Migration Act, to try to stop more “small boats” crossing the Channel, the Online Safety Act and the Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Act as key new laws in the last Parliament.
