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London’s electric taxi drivers now have taken matters into their own hands this month by reporting 21 cases of electric ‘chargepoint abuse’ to licensing authorities in the capital.
Taxi drivers have become highly frustrated at the lack of policing stopping private hire vehicles and other cars using crucial ‘taxi only’ charging bays. A group of cabbies have now started a new group using the @taxis_e Twitter channel to note and report drivers incorrectly using designated electric taxi chargepoints, and in additional cases, parking on taxi ranks.
Over 500 Twitter accounts already follow and subscribe to the channel on the social media platform Twitter. They are being encouraged to send in photos and details to @taxis_e who will then in turn will report to Transport for London (TfL).
Angry electric taxi drivers are being asked to safely take photos or videos, and make note of the date, time and location of the incident.
Cabbies in London have invested approximately £240million in almost 4,000 Zero Emission Capable (ZEC) taxis since 2018. The majority of those licensed taxis are the popular LEVC TX model, however they also include just over 100 fully electric Nissan Dynamos.
In a recent report sent to TfL by Zap-Map, London now has a grand total of 523 rapid chargepoints. Of which, 312 rapid chargers in London were delivered by TFL, 85 of which can only be used bytaxi drivers.
If any vehicle other than a licensed taxi is found to be parked up within an E-taxi bay then it can be issued with a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN).
A member of the Taxis group stated: “Thank you very much to all of our contributors this month for your reports of abuse, email sent to TPH (Taxi and Private Hire) who will consult with compliance and Charge bay management teams.
“21 reports of E charger abuse this month.”
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