Why Birmingham’s taxi drivers are protesting Birmingham taxi drivers are undertaking a series of ‘go-slow’ protests in Birmingham City Centre because the City Council is threatening our livelihoods. Black cab drivers are being hit with a double whammy – We have to pay the new Clean Air Zone charge at the same time that we have to pay to upgrade our vehicles to meet the Council’s clean emission standards. Taxi drivers support the Council’s Clean Air objectives but not at the cost of being driven out of business. We need support and understanding to make these changes.
This dispute can be resolved! All we want is to sit down with the Council to agree measures to make this transition easier for our members. In London, the mayor has exempted black cabs from the Ultra
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Low Emission Zone charge while they make the transition to clean air vehicles. But Birmingham is refusing to consider anything similar. In Birmingham, the second city in the UK, our Council is taking a sledgehammer approach, driving these changes at our expense. Worse still, while London’s administration talks to the black cabs, our City Council is refusing to even meet us.
Council in chaos? On 2 May, the Chair Licensing on the Council, Barbara Dring, contacted RMT offering to meet on 7 May if we called off our protests. We agreed to do this because we want a settlement. The very next day, the head of Licensing wrote to us in a letter copied to Councillor Dring, saying there was ‘no benefit to be had from the meeting’ and she cancelled it. What is going on? Either the Council is in chaos or it’s double dealing. Whichever it is, it’s clear that the problem in this dispute lies with the Council, not with taxi drivers.
What now? RMT members can’t sit back and let the Council wreck our black cab service. Our protests will continue but we remain ready and willing to negotiate an agreement. The Council needs to get its act together and sit down with us for meaningful talks or it risks destroying our livelihoods and wrecking the safe and reliable service we provide for Birmingham’s people.
How you can help? Help us resolve this needless dispute today. Contact the Chair and Head of Licensing and urge them to meet the RMT for meaningful talks: Send emails to: Barbara Dring barbara.dring@birmingham.gov.uk (Chair of Licensing) and Emma Rohomon emma.rohomon@birmingham.gov.uk (Head of Licensing) Or contact Licensing on Twitter @BCCLicensing
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