Recently most of the beloved Fairway London Taxis that have plyed for hire on the streets of London from the original FX4 to the last Fairway in 1997 have been slowly disappearing from our streets due to the Mayor of London’s Air Quality Strategy where he introduced an age limit for Taxis on the basis that older vehicles were polluting London so we find it quite amazing that one of TfL’s contractors are continuing to use these “unfit” Taxis to ferry their staff around London, yes the same taxis that the Mayor of London states are no longer fit to be used as Licensed London Taxis.
The company in question is Arriva who operate bus services on behalf of TfL, they have been using old taxis to ferry bus drivers and staff around for a number of years but did not advertise the fact that they operated the taxis as they were kept just plain black with no advertising or company name on them.
An ex London Taxi being used by Arriva
Recently Arriva have come out of the closet and seem to be proud of the fact that they are using ex London Taxis that were taken off the road for being too polluting by re-painting them Red and adding their name to the front doors of the Taxis
As you can see the Taxis are extremely bold and Arriva have stuck a rather large logo on the front doors of the Taxis which makes them stand out.
Effectively these Taxis are being used to transport staff around who are working on behalf of TfL by one of their contractors, taxis that we were told we are no longer allowed to use, taxis that Arriva purchased at knocked down prices due to the Mayor;s air Quality strategy making them of no use in London therefore decreasing their value.
Most of the Taxi’s are in very bad condition with dents all over them, no wheel trims and bumper end caps missing as the above pictures can confirm.
So how can it be right that Taxis that we have been told are no longer fit to be licensed due to their age and pollution figures can now be used to transport staff around who are working on behalf of TfL albeit for one of their contractors and the contractor seems to be quite blasé about the whole thing and this is all happening right under TfLs noses?
Just seems to be a case of don’t do as I do, but merely do as you are told on the part of TfL.
And it appears that London is not the only area that Arriva are using Taxis that no longer meet licensing requirements to transport staff around!
