On Friday 22 January, I held an online meeting for taxi drivers.

Taxi drivers in Bristol have been hard hit by the pandemic. While drivers have been offering an essential service during this time, they have had little financial support or government guidance – and continue to have one of the highest mortality rates across occupational groups.

We also discussed pre-existing issues such as the problems arising from working across different areas with different standards. The government had a chance to fix this, using recommendations from the Task and Finish Group on Taxi and Private Hire Vehicle Licensing – but they chose not to.

I wrote to the Secretary of State for Transport about these issues which you can read below.