'Mayor's pact with cabbies leaves unsafe taxis on roads'
Thousands of black cabs emitting illegal levels of pollution - and hundreds with brake problems - are being allowed on London's streets as a result of Boris Johnson "cosying up" to the taxi trade, it was claimed today.
Darren Johnson, a Green member of the London Assembly, said six-monthly inspections, introduced by former mayor Ken Livingstone in October 2007 but scrapped by Mr Johnson 13 months later, played a vital part in reducing harmful emissions of PM10 particulates from taxi exhausts.
He accused the Mayor of scrapping the time-consuming inspections - which have been replaced by simpler on-road checks - as "pay-back" for drivers handing out an estimated seven million taxi receipts bearing the "Back Boris" campaign logo during last year's mayoral campaign.
New figures obtained by the Green Party show 2,898 cabs - one in seven of the capital's black taxis - failed a mid-year inspection prior to the tests being scrapped by the Mayor last year.
A further 1,452 were temporarily taken off the road after problems were found with their brakes, according to the Transport for London statistics.
Darren Johnson said: "These tests are vital in terms of reducing deaths due to air pollution. The black cab trade were very enthusiastic supporters of Boris Johnson during the mayoral election. This looks like pay-back time."
Bob Oddy, general secretary of the London Taxi Drivers' Association, denied that unsafe black cabs were working in London and said the six-month emissions tests picked up "minimal failures" that were normally a result of the cab engine being cold.
"There is no evidence to suggest that taxis in London are dangerous, none whatsoever," he said. "Boris made certain pledges and gave certain assurances to the cab trade. But we are not political animals - we are apolitical."
The capital's 21,000-strong taxi fleet accounts for 10 per cent of PM10 emissions from exhausts in inner London.
TfL, which last year launched a £1million scheme to improve black cab technology to reduce carbon emissions, expects that figure to fall to 9.3 per cent by next year. The Government has been warned it faces �300million fines from the European Union if it fails to reduce its PM10 emissions by 2012.
The Mayor has admitted he was not given any assessment of the impact on air pollution before scrapping the half-yearly emissions tests. He said: "It is my intention to reduce CO2 and other emissions from all vehicle fleets over which I have any control."
A TfL spokesman said: "Mid-year inspections were introduced with the aim of improving standards, but they failed to have the desired impact - pass rates for annual and on-street inspections remained fairly stable.
"We scrapped mid-year inspections to focus on on-street inspections, as we believe their unpredictable nature provides a better incentive to keep a taxi in the best possible condition.
"There is no evidence that scrapping mid-year inspections has had any impact on emission levels."
