Mayor of London announces £24 million grant to make black cabs ‘greener’

Sadiq Khan, Mayor of London, has announced plans for a £24 million grant to make black cabs greener.

The grant will go towards helping black cab drivers switch to electric vehicles. The plan is for more than 1,000 drivers to benefit from the maximum £10,000 payment for trading in their older vehicles. Under the current plan, the Government intends to ban all sales of petrol and diesel vehicles by 2040.

The additional funding, included in the Mayor’s draft budget for 2019/20, is expected to help around 2,000 additional drivers go green, with more than 5,000 drivers now set to benefit from the fund overall. The enhanced scheme could reduce nitrogen oxide taxi emissions by as much as 20 per cent.

Sadiq Khan said: “Working with cabbies to reduce the number of polluting taxis is a key part of our plans to improve London’s air quality. I’ve been delighted by the number of cabbies who have applied for our grants so far – doing their bit to improve our dirty air. The additional £24m announced today will more than double the size of the scheme, making it easier for more drivers across the city to go green.”

This follows a report by the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy found that the transport sector was the biggest contributor of emissions, contributing to 27 per cent of all greenhouse gas emissions in the UK.

This is having a significant impact on health, in England, the total NHS and social care cost due to PM was estimated to be over £41 million in 2017. This number could rise if air pollution is not regulated.

John Maingay, Director of Policy & Public Affairs at the British Heart Foundation, said: “Breathing dirty air contributes to thousands of deaths in the UK each year. Our research has shown that the tiny particles produced by diesel vehicles may silently damage our heart and circulatory systems, significantly increasing the risk of a devastating heart attack or stroke.”

The Mayor’s 2019/20 budget, which includes the proposed £24m funding, will go before a meeting of the London Assembly on February 25th.

19 February 2019