IN THE NEWS
ADDISON LEE SWEETENS SIGN-UP OFFER IN PUSH TO ATTRACT NEW DRIVERS
Addison Lee has sweetened an already attractive offer to new drivers as it pre- pares for surging demand post-Plan B. According to the Evening Standard, the private hire firm launched a push to sign-up 1,000 new drivers last October, guaranteeing them £5,000 in earnings in their first month. It has now added extra benefits such as sick pay, maternity cover and financial support if drivers are involved in an accident. New drivers will also all be offered elec- tric vehicles as part of a push to make the firm’s fleet all electric by next year. CEO Liam Griffin said he wanted to make sure Addison Lee was offering “the best deal in the market.” “This enhanced package ensures that
we will be supporting our existing partner drivers, while growing our fleet to help meet rising demand for safe travel in London,” he said. Addison Lee is understood to have signed up around half of its 1,000 target for new drivers. The sweetened
offer comes as the company and other taxi and private hire firms battle to attract staff in an exceptionally tight market. Uber recently hiked its fees in London for the first time since 2017 in an attempt to attract staff and rival Bolt has let its drivers set their own rates. Job vacancies across the economy are at a record high as a result of the pandemic. Covid has driven a rise in early retirement and mid-career gap years at a time when demand is spiking due to people’s pent up desire to go out and have fun post-lockdowns. Addison Lee and other cab businesses are expecting a surge in demand now than Plan B restrictions have been axed.
IS IT THE END OF THE KNOWLEDGE AS LONDON HACKNEY APPLICATIONS FALL BY NEARLY 95%
It is the famously challenging test faced by London taxi drivers, but The Knowledge could soon be a thing of the past. Figures show the number of new appli- cations for black cab licences has dropped by almost 95 per cent in a decade, from 3,484 in 2011/12 to just 221 last year. The Daily Mail reports that the decline has sparked fears that the world- famous exam faces ‘extinction’ unless Transport for London overhauls the industry. Introduced in the mid 19th Century, The Knowledge requires drivers to memo- rise 25,000 streets and 100,000 landmarks within a six-mile radius of Charing Cross. Successful applicants have to pass up to a dozen interviews with the entire process taking up to four years. Speaking to The Mail on Sunday, Dean Warrington, founder of the Wizann
34
Knowledge School, one of the largest in London, said: “Our learning school used to be 3,000 square feet — we’re now down to 300 square feet. “At our peak we would have four to five hundred students a year, but now it’s somewhere between 50 and one hundred. “Four years ago, I told City Hall that if
they do not change things then we are not just in trouble, we are going to become extinct. You only have a certain amount of time to make changes and it may already be too late. I hope it isn’t.” Graham Robinson, TfL’s General Man- ager of Taxi and Private Hire, said: “We have seen a decline in people wanting to undertake the Knowledge, which has been exacerbated by the pandemic. “We are working with stakeholders, including taxi representatives, to look at ways of making studying to be a black cab driver more appealing.” But Steve McNamara, general secretary of the Licensed Taxi Drivers’ Associa- tion, said: “Is the Knowledge dead? No, it’s not. It just needs to be made more relevant to the 21st Century. “I’m actually pretty confident that people will realise that there’ is still a good living to be made from driving a cab.”
FEBRUARY 2022
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90
