6 minute read
News Analysis
Driver shortage intensifies as work returns
Mark Bursa
As a degree of post-covid normality returns to our lives, it’s easy to think that we’ll quickly return to how things were. Far from it, as beleaguered taxi and private hire operators are finding out.
Across the country, the demand for local taxis and minicabs is returning. People are going out for the evening, or taking holidays. And they inevitably need to take a cab. And that’s where the problems start.
In simple economic terms, the supply cannot meet the demand. Over the past 18 months, a perfect storm has been brewing, and now the problems are being felt, as operators find themselves seriously short of drivers.
This is causing serious problems, especially in towns and cities at night. In Blackpool, where an influx of holidaymakers creates a summer demand spike, the lack of late-night cabs has caused a sharp increase in public disorder.
“On a Saturday night on Queen Street it’s like Beirut because people get angry if they can’t get a taxi and in Blackpool they’ve always been used to getting taxis easily,” said Dee Grant, director of Blackpool taxi firm C Cabs, which has lost lost 200 of the 500 drivers it had on its books before the pandemic.
Ian Wharmby, managing director of another local firm, Blacktax, said his company had stopped going down Queen Street despite the council bringing in taxi marshalls to control the throng, after one of his cars had a window smashed. He said: “On Friday and Saturday nights if people are out late, they can’t get cabs and are having to walk home.
So where have the drivers gone? When the pandemic lockdown began, taxi work all but dried up. “A lot of drivers left last year because there was no work and they have other jobs and are not coming back,” said Wharmby.
Grant said C Cabs had lost drivers to delivery firms. “While there was still work for the day drivers, the night drivers have moved on to jobs with Amazon, Tesco and the like,” she said.
Home deliveries were one of the prime beneficiaries of the pandemic, with a massive rise in demand. For many drivers, trading a car for a van was a no-brainer. There was plenty of work, and no need for expensive licensing. And deliveries are likely to remain a major part of the “new normal”, so where is the incentive to go back to work as a cab driver?
Well, the money is good, says Wharmby. “The drivers we have are working non-stop, so you can make some good money from it,” he said.
But the cost of getting back in – or becoming a new driver – is high. In Blackpool, it costs up to £800 to get a badge, which many cannot afford or justify when no such barriers exist in order to get a job as an Amazon driver.
Operators are having to offer incentives to recruit drivers. Grant said C Cabs was offering a £300 bonus to new drivers who join the company just to drive in the evenings. But operators feel it should be down to the councils to help out.
Blackpool’s operators are calling on Blackpool Council to relax the rules for applying for a taxi licence so they can attract new drivers more easily. John Cutler, managing director of Premier Cabs, said: “We need more consultation from the council with the trade on this. Recruitment is difficult at the moment, but it’s something affecting a lot of sectors including the hotels and clubs.”
The council has now agreed new drivers can apply for a one-year licence at a cost of £90, instead of needing a three-year £250 licence. It is also reviewing training requirements for new drivers which can cost up to £380.
The situation is repeated across the country. In Liverpool, major operators such as Alpha Cars, are experiencing a similar driver dearth. Director James Bradley said: “Unfortunately, many drivers have been driven out of the sector over the last 18 months due to health difficulties of their own or for family members. However, replacing those who have left has proven difficult and time-consuming.”
He added: “We believe we’ll need roughly 500 more drivers to match current demand.” Bradley said local authorities have not been able to process applications because Covid prevented them from processing enough new badge applications or conducting enough knowledge tests.
“Unfortunately, for substantial sections
of the prior 18 months, the new badge candidate process was practically closed,” he said.
So even though Alpha is carrying out initiatives such as working with local Job Centres to help people find driving jobs, the process fails when drivers have to wait weeks for their license applications to be processed.
The National Private Hire and Taxi Association said the huge drop in the number of licensed vehicles across England – a national fall of 16% from 289,000 to 251,000 in England, according to Department for Transport figures - was because of the “sheer absence” of any financial support from Government for the industry.
David Lawrie, director of the NPHTA, added: “Due to the sheer absence of any financial support for the taxi and private hire industry, many have had to go on to benefits, many have had to find alternative work in order to keep a roof over their heads and feed their families. They have felt abandoned, unappreciated, unsupported, kicked into the long grass, and forgotten about completely.”
He called on the Government to offer more targeted financial support. But the Government response was typically weak. A Government spokeswoman said: “The Government has announced several measures to support UK businesses through the pandemic, including the taxi and private hire sector. The majority of taxi drivers are self-employed and can apply to the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme, and operating companies are eligible for local council grants.”
As documented in previous issues of Professional Driver, many “self-employed” drivers found themselves slipping through the SEISS net. Many found that by applying for SEISS grants, they lost their eligibility for Universal Credit.
And another Government-inflicted decision is compounding the driver shortage issue: Brexit. The taxi sector employed large numbers of Eastern European drivers. When Covid hit, many of them went home because they wanted to be with their loved ones – but because of Brexit, they now cannot simply return and resume their old jobs.
Since January 1, EU citizens planning to work in Britain need visas which are typically only available for higher-paid jobs than those in the taxi sector. But the UK government has rejected calls to temporarily ease post-Brexit immigration rules to address employment shortages in lower-paid jobs such as driving, hospitality and farm work.
With Brexit causing even deeper shortages in the heavy truck sector, people looking for a well-paid job as a professional driver are likely to look toward the distribution sector rather than the taxi trade. According to trade group Logistics UK, there are a staggering 90,000 vacancies for truck drivers in the UK, and this is causing shortages of food deliveries to supermarkets and takeaway chains.
