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Posted on the 4th April 2025 in PHTM News
TFL PROPOSAL TO INCREASE PRIVATE HIRE LICENCE FEES A SLAP IN THE FACE FOR CAPITALS DRIVERS
ADCU, the app drivers and couriers union, has reacted with anger at proposals by TfL to increase licence fees for drivers by 10%, and to almost double the cost of the assessment fee, from £16 to £30.
The proposals will be put to the TfL Finance Committee on 9 April, but ADCU is urging committee members not to agree to the increased fees.
Only last week, ADCU called for a cap on the number of licences being issued, and for TfL to issue emergency licences for its members, amid reports that some drivers were waiting months for their licences to be renewed.
Many ADCU members are waiting so long for licence renewals that their cars are being repossessed, while at least one ADCU member has been evicted from his home because he could not meet his rent payments, after being unable to work.
Zamir Dreni, General Secretary of ADCU, said: "TfL can not seriously be planning to heap more misery on drivers by increasing licence fees, when they are not even managing to reissue licences to drivers within a reasonable timeframe.
"Our members are already facing serious financial hardship as a result of TfL's failures, and this is is yet another slap in the face for them. They just want to be able to work, and earn a decent living.
"TfL should be asking the app-based companies and platform operators to bear the brunt of price increases, not hard-pressed drivers. There has been no increase for operators since 2016, but every single year the price for drivers goes up.
"These increases can not be allowed to pass, and we hope the Finance Committee will do the right thing, and vote them down, on April 9th."
Elly Baker, London Wide Assembly Member (Labour), has written to Seb Dance, Deputy Major for Transport at City Hall, raising concerns about the proposed changes, and is also writing to members of the TfL Finance Committee asking them not to approve any increases until the system is fit for purpose.
She said: "Why is TfL seeking to ask drivers to pay more for a system that is currently broken?"
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