Uber’s attack on London leads to uncertainty in the Trade and a steep Drop in Black-Cab Recruits

Since Uber was launched in London the cities iconic Black Taxis are seeing their biggest threat since their start in 1654.

London Taxi drivers who typically spend 4 years studying ‘’The Knowledge’’ learning 25,000 roads and 20,000 landmarks are seen as the highest qualified Taxi drivers in the world, no other city has a test anywhere near as difficult.

Uber launched in 2012 and since then it has been estimated that 1,200 new Uber drivers are starting up in London every month although this figure has not been confirmed by Uber.

Since 2010 the number of Private Hire vehicles licensed in London has increased by 29% and now seems to be accelerating since the launch of Uber.

Whilst the number of Private Hire drivers has increased considerably the number of London Taxi drivers has remained constant.

The increase in competition and fall in work for the traditional Black Taxi driver has led to a significant fall in Black Taxi Licence applications, data obtained by Bloomberg from Transport for London has put that figure at 20% in 2014.