Sadiq Khan urged to 'cap licences' on private hire taxis as black cab drivers face eradication by 2045: 'We need funding!'

Sadiq Khan urged to 'cap licences' on private hire taxis as black cab drivers face eradication by 2045: 'We need funding!'

London Mayor Sir Sadiq Khan has been urged to implement a "cap" on the number of private hire taxi drivers in London after a stark report predicted a complete eradication of black cab drivers by 2045

Charles Wright: Making a future for London's black cab trade

New analysis from think tank Centre for London has described an inexorable decline in black cab numbers, from almost 23,000 in 2014 to 14,500 in 2024. Just 104 new drivers joined the trade last year. If the trend isn’t arrested, the report warns, the “iconic” London taxi could be extinct by 2045. We’ve heard this before. A London Assembly report expressed concerns about the future of the black cab back in 2005, and in 2014, when driver numbers h…

Apart from Big Ben and beefeaters outside the Tower, there's nothing more iconic about London than the black cab. But a new report published this week by think tank The Centre for London warns that London's black cabs could be extinct by 2045.

'London is losing 1000 cabbies a year - by 2045 there will be none of us left'

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has been asked to step in to resolve the issue