GLASGOW Taxis have written to Glasgow City Council leader Susan Aitken as well as all councillors serving the city with a plea aiming to avoid the loss of an estimated 350 taxis at the start of June.
Issued earlier today, the proposal is for any remaining taxi operators not yet compliant with the Low Emission Zone (LEZ) to be given the opportunity to “offset emissions” until such point as they become fully compliant, which the majority are expected to achieve within the year.
Referring to the key LEZ deadline of June 1, 2024, the emailed letter states: “As you are aware, Glasgow is set lose around 350 public hire operators on 1 June 2024 with the application of the Low Emission Zone (LEZ) – each one being a small Glasgow business.
“Given the huge steps taken by the taxi trade in Glasgow in recent years, we believe it would be folly for the City Council to allow these businesses and the many livelihoods they support to simply disappear overnight in the context of actual improvement to air quality in the City Centre.”
Issued by Glasgow Taxis chairman Dougie McPherson, the correspondence then closes with Glasgow Taxis’ “Ask”, as follows: “The vast majority of the taxi operators in Glasgow support of the Council’s commitment to improving air quality. Most operators now have an identified pathway to full LEZ compliance but, for many, it will simply not be achievable over the next 2 week(s).
“As stated, the emissions of all such vehicles over the next 12 months is the equivalent to two transatlantic flights!
“Without any attempt to belittling the wider environmental considerations, and Glasgow’s role in improving its own air quality, surely the City Council agrees with our contention that this cannot be allowed as the justification for the loss of 350 viable small Glasgow businesses.
“Glasgow Taxis asks that Glasgow City Council uses the powers available to allow those taxis operators to continue to trade beyond 1 June 2024, and moreover to continue to serve the needs to the City, as the vehicles and solutions become available over the coming year – and, where deemed necessary, to allow such small businesses to offset their emissions as per many other larger UK and international companies operating in Glasgow.”
