Taxi drivers in Reading have been given an extra year to drive their older, more polluting cabs before switching to lower emission vehicles.

Reading Borough Council’s licensing committee considered putting plans to phase out older taxi cabs at a meeting yesterday (Tuesday, February 1).

The council has a policy of removing old cabs from the taxi fleet in an effort to reduce emissions and improve air quality, called the Hackney Carriage Vehicle Emissions and Age Policy, which was established in October 2019.

Its aim is to have all the cabs, called hackney carriages, turned into ultra low emission vehicles (ULEV) by 2028.

But the phased removal of older cabs was delayed for two years in December 2020 due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

READ MORE:Reading taxi drivers ask for more time to replace old vehicles amid Covid pandemic 

At the most recent meeting, councillors on both sides of the divide took pity on the town’s taxi drivers.

Asif Rashid, chairman of Reading Taxi Association appealed for the delay to be extended, which would mean 15 vehicles registered in 2011-12 could still be used until October 2024.

Councillor Tony Page (Labour, Abbey) said he had a great deal of sympathy for taxi drivers as their business has significantly dropped due to the pandemic.

Cllr Jeannette Skeats, the Conservative opposition leader and representative for Thames ward, said: “Clearly the council’s policy is to reduce emissions, which is right and proper.

“This is an exception for our drivers who do face hardship.”

But there was a feeling that a line needed to be ‘drawn in the sand’ for the eventual phasing out of older, more polluting taxis.

Cllr Adele Barnett-Ward (Labour, Caversham), appearing remotely, said: “A line does need to be drawn, we don’t want to come back every year with the same appeal for an extension.”

According to a report, there are only two ULEV cabs currently in Reading’s taxi fleet.

Mr Rashid argued that taxi drivers using vehicles in 2011-12 should be given the opportunity for one more year, before swapping them to ULEV cabs later. 

Cllr Barnett-Ward explained: "If these vehicles come off the fleet on the original schedule then the owners would be able to replace them with diesel vehicles.

"The one year delay means that they will not have that option and will have to buy low or no emission vehicles instead - so the delay actually speeds up the greening of the fleet."

Supporting the delay, cllr Skeats argued that a line does not need to be drawn in the sand “at this time” amid future uncertainty over the possibility of more lockdowns.

It was noted that the number of taxi trips had declined by 40 per cent compared to pre-pandemic levels.

READ MORE: Police boss grilled in Reading over priorities and funding reductions

Cllr Brenda McGonigle (Green, Park) suggested that taxi drivers should stop idling their engines to reduce the emissions their cars produce.

Cllr Page lamented the lack of government grant funding to help taxi drivers in Reading upgrade their cabs, funding that has been made available in London and Manchester.

He said: “At the moment, we’re expecting the trade to upgrade their vehicles entirely on their own.”

Ultimately, the committee decided to pause the policy for another year until October 2023, with the most polluting vehicles being taken off the road in October this year.

That means six cabs will have to be taken off the road by October this year.

The committee also resolved to meet to conduct a review of the policy in September, and write to the Government to make more grant funding available so that taxi drivers can speed up the upgrade of their cabs.