There were tense scenes outside the Reading council offices as taxi drivers vented their frustrations over being forced into electric and hybrid vehicles.
Dozens of drivers were seen surrounding councillors at the offices in Bridge Street in the town centre.
The drivers were protesting against Reading Borough Council’s vehicle age and emissions policies.
The council’s policy is to only allow vehicles which emit 75 mg of nitrogen oxides (NOx) per kilometre, which drivers say can even rule out Euro 6 emissions vehicles which can travel in London’s Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) for free.
John Ennis (Labour, Southcote), lead councillor for transport, deputy council leader Micky Leng (Labour, Whitley) and Glenn Dennis (Labour, Kentwood) were spotted speaking with the drivers.
The Local Democracy Reporting Service spoke with members of the Reading Private Hire Association (RPHA), which was founded in December 2022 to represent drivers.
Aftab Malik said: “The issue is [electric vehicles] only give you 120 miles on full charge.
“And then if you’re using the radio, air con, it comes down to 90 miles.
“And if you charge overnight at home or the office, that’s fine. But if you go into charging points in the fuel stations, it’s £38 for a full charge; that gives you 50-60 miles, and then you’ve got to recharge it again.”
The lack of charging infrastructure was a common complaint.
Drivers who have opted for Euro 6 vehicles could face not being allowed to drive them, even though they are ULEZ compliant.
Azz Asghar, who recently bought a diesel eight-seat Volkswagen Transporter for £36,500, said: “I emailed to check with the council’s licensing department that this vehicle was compliant, and they said it was ok.
“So I went ahead and bought it, only to get an email saying ‘sorry it’s non-compliant’.
“They change the rules like the weather.”
Mr Asghar is being allowed to use the vehicle for now, but he fears that could change.
Shahid Rafiq, the chairman of the RTA, said he would be unable to charge an electric vehicle as he lives in a flat with no charging infrastructure.
Meanwhile, Nazneen Ali, a school transport driver, has complained that the council is forcing her and others to comply with stringent conditions on vehicle age and emissions, despite them only working during term time for the school drop-off and pick-up periods.
The protest took place prior to a licensing applications committee meeting on Thursday, July 9.
The meeting was focused on the hackney carriage taxi trade, better known as cabs, which can be hailed on the spot or pre-booked through apps.
This differs from private hire drivers, who must be pre-booked.
Councillors were asked to determine whether there is ‘unmet demand’ for more cabs in Reading.
The public chamber was filled with drivers, with the committee chair Paul Woodward (Labour, Church) making it clear that only appointed people could speak.
Asif Rashid, chairman of the Reading Taxi Association, said: “Work has gone down since 2023. The post covid bubble has burst.
“Clearly there is no unmet demand. From our perspective, we want to retain the status quo for five years.”
Manzoor Hussain from the RPHA said: “We support Mr Rashid, it’s better to stop any more licences, because work has gone down, we’re all suffering together.”
He then used his time to highlight the grievances raised during the protest.
Mr Hussain said: “We’ve lost faith in the council. We’ve been completely ignored altogether. To be frank, I’m a pensioner now, I’m going to be out of here soon. These guys and these ladies [school transport drivers] don’t have a voice.”
Councillors unanimously decided not to increase the number of cabs in Reading, and conduct another unmet demand survey in five years.
The drivers were thanked for attending the meeting.
Cllr Woodward jovially said: “I do love a good demonstration!”
Mr Rashid said he was happy with the decision following the meeting.
