Request ID: FOI-3911-2324 Date published: 25 March 2024
You asked
Follow up from 2524-2324 - In your foi reply you stated that 20 taxis had been scraped under the ulez wheel chair scheme.
If you know the 20 taxis that have been scraped can you please tell me how many was still licensed as black taxis when ulez grant was agreed, the ones that wasn’t still licensed . How many months out of licence was they?
We answered
TfL Ref: FOI-3911-2324 Thank you for your follow up request which we received on 31 January 2024, asking about the wheelchair accessible vehicle (WAV) scrappage scheme. Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of the Environmental Information Regulations (EIRs) and our information access policy. I can confirm that we hold the information you require. You asked: In your foi reply you stated that 20 taxis had been scraped under the ULEZ wheel chair scheme. If you know the 20 taxis that have been scraped, can you please tell me how many was still licensed as black taxis when ULEZ grant was agreed, the ones that wasn’t still licensed. How many months out of licence was they? By way of background, when the scrappage scheme was launched on 30 January 2023, the car and motorcycle element of the scheme was open to London residents on certain low income benefits, with the wheelchair accessible vehicle (WAV) scrap and retrofit grant options specifically introduced to help disabled people with non-compliant vehicles prepare for the expansion of the ULEZ. Taxi vehicles could be scrapped as part of the WAV scheme if they hadn’t previously received funding through the TfL taxi delicensing scheme. On 21 August 2023, the eligibility criteria changed, and applicants no longer needed to be in receipt of a benefit to apply for the scheme. In addition, where an applicant was applying to scrap a taxi there was a new requirement that it couldn’t have been licensed with TfL in the 12-month period preceding the launch of the scrappage scheme (i.e., those that were licensed beyond 1 February 2022). This was in recognition that the scrappage scheme was never intended to assist taxi licensees with the purchase of a new taxi; this was the purpose of TfL’s Taxi Delicensing Scheme. While the Taxi Delicensing Scheme has now ended, taxis licensed with TfL remain exempt from ULEZ charges. Of the 20 vehicles with a make or model of taxi which applied for the WAV scrappage grant, 9 were not licensed at the point of application. The length of time which the licence had been expired is listed in the table below:
Number of Applications
Length of time taxi licence expired at point of application
2
2 Years 9 Months
1
2 years 10 months
2
2 years 6 month
1
4 years 5 month
1
1 year 2 months
1
7 months
1
Never licensed with TfL
If this is not the information you are looking for, or if you are unable to access it for any reason, please do not hesitate to contact me. Please see the attached information sheet for details of your right to appeal as well as information on copyright. Yours sincerely Eva Hextall FOI Case Management Team General Counsel Transport for London
