North Tyneside Labour introduce clean air zone for taxi drivers

North Tyneside’s Labour Mayor, Dame Norma Redfern, on Monday gave the go ahead to a Clean Air Zone in all but name for taxi drivers in North Tyneside, as she approved changes to North Tyneside Council’s Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Licensing Policy.

The changes to the policy mean that taxi drivers whose cars are not compliant with Labour’s Clean Air Zone in Newcastle will be effectively banned from holding a license in North Tyneside. The Cabinet have also agreed that long serving taxi-drivers who have non-compliant cars will not have their licenses renewed.

The news is especially concerning as North Tyneside faces a shortage of taxi drivers post-covid. The Council admitted last week that “the number of drivers and vehicles was reducing before and during the pandemic and is not currently seeing any signs of recovery”.

The new policy is stricter than London's Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ), but unlike the ULEZ scheme does not include any additional funding to help private hire drivers transition to newer cars, which would allow them to keep their licenses.

Speaking about the decision the Leader of the Conservative Group, Cllr Liam Bones, said “This change will put taxi drivers in North Tyneside out of a job at a time they can least afford it. Our vulnerable residents rely on taxis to get to hospital appointments and other important life events - it is reprehensible that Mayor Redfern has chosen this time to declare war on our drivers.

“The changes made by Dame Norma are stricter than the Clean Air Zone, will cost drivers more than the Clean Air Zone and don’t have any financial support for drivers like the Clean Air Zone. "

The Council's decision comes shortly after Mayor Redfern failed to rule out introducing a Clean Air Zone in North Tyneside, and one day after Labour's Kim McGuinness, widely expected to become the first North East Combined Authority Mayor, used an interview on Politics North to say "there are too many cars on the road".

Cllr Bones added, "We can see now why neither would rule out an expansion. Behind closed doors the North East Labour Party have cooked up a deal to throw taxi drivers and other motorists to the wolves.

The Mayor should do the right thing and reverse this decision. It's time she started to put our residents before the climate loons in her own party".