DUNDEE

A union rep has insisted lightning storms led to a cab blackout on Saturday night – and claimed up to half of the city’s taxis were left out of action on the busiest night of the week.

Chris Elder, taxi union rep for Unite, reckons up to 50% of the city’s fleet of 128 electric taxis were left with power outages thanks to the extreme weather across Dundee on Saturday.

Now drivers fear that loss of earnings and nights away from work could happen again if similar wild storms are repeated.

The lightning lasted for hours on Saturday night and it spelled problems for the city’s cabbies.

Mr Elder said: “There were major issues for electric taxis caused by the lightning strikes at the weekend.

“This resulted in taxis being taken off the road and it also made drivers afraid to charge up their cars while the storm lasted.

“This is something else to cause concern in regards to the city having an all electric taxi fleet.”

Under new plans put forward to councillors earlier this month, taxi drivers will begin paying to charge their vehicles come October.

Cabbies will have to shell out just £6.38 for 130 miles travel – but union boss Mr Elder reckons there are higher worries on the priority list for drivers.

He has claimed workers across the city missed out on a big pay day as a result of the blackout on Saturday.

He said: “This is yet another thing to have to take into account when looking at an all electric taxi fleet.

“We can’t afford to have taxis taken off the road every time we have thunder and lightning.

“Saturday was a busy night for us with several events on, and some of our drivers lost hundreds of pounds because they couldn’t operate their taxis.

“I also heard of some bars being forced to close early because they couldn’t get their staff home safely later on because of a lack of taxis.

“If this continues to happen it could affect the city’s economy and is another good reason to reconsider having an all electric fleet of taxis at this stage.”

One taxi driver, who asked not to be named, has raised concerns for his business – as well as colleagues across the city – if it keeps being affected by such issues.

He said: “Dundee was full of taxi drivers on Saturday too scared to charge up their cars until the storm had passed.

“I know there were problems in Lochee, Broughty Ferry and Princes Street. I saw several stranded taxis being loaded on to the back of pick up trucks because they had been damaged due to the lightning hitting the charging hubs.

“If this happens again it could result in all the electric taxis being forced off the road, leaving people stranded.

“I’m certainly not taking the risk of paying a lot of money to have my car collected and then repaired, and not being able to work for several days.”

Alan Smith, taxi rep for the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) – who still runs diesel taxis – believes the threat of blackout thanks to adverse weather is another reason to question the use of electric vehicles.

He said: “This shows what could happen if we have an all electric fleet of taxis.

“I’m all for electric taxis for a number of reasons, but we are not yet ready to have an all electric fleet in Dundee.

A Dundee City Council spokesman said: “We are looking into this.”

https://www.eveningtelegraph.co.uk/fp/lightning-puts-half-of-citys-electric-cabs-out-of-action/