LONDON

Taxi drivers have slammed plans to close off key locations in the City of London to traffic during the summer, saying they amount to a “PR gimmick”.

Key City hotspots, including St Mary Axe and Chancery Lane, will be closed for days in August and September to allow workers to enjoy traffic-free lunch breaks, the City of London Corporation announced today.

The Corporation will close off St Mary Axe – which hosts the Gherkin, Cheesegrater and the Baltic Exchange – to cars and taxis on 13-15 August, while Chancery Lane will be closed from 3-5 September from 10.30am to 3pm.

The closures are to allow activities, music and food to take place.

Steve McNamara, general secretary of the Licensed Taxi Drivers’ Association, said: “While the taxi trade agrees strongly with the need to tackle London’s toxic air, one off stunts like car-free days won’t do much to cut pollution in the long-term.

“Instead of PR gimmicks, the City of London Corporation should make a real contribution to improving air quality by installing more rapid charge points for the 2000 London cabbies who are out picking up passengers in zero emissions capable taxis.

“There are currently only two rapid charge points available to cabbies within the richest Square Mile in the world. This is totally absurd and we need to see many more installed to encourage more cabbies to make the switch to electric.”

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Taxi drivers in Carmarthenshire are being trained to spot signs of abuse to help raise awareness of child sexual exploitation and domestic abuse.

Hundreds of taxi drivers have already completed the safeguard training which helps protect vulnerable people. Passenger assistants are also being given training, which includes a video tutorial, as part of their licensing requirements.

The training is in line with Carmarthenshire County Council’s Corporate Safeguarding Policy.

Vulnerable people do not have the capacity or ability to understand what is happening. This may be down to drugs/alcohol, mental health, learning disability or age. They may also have communication difficulties such as deaf, blind or language barriers.

The Safeguard training covers children and adults are risk of abuse, violence against women, domestic abuse and child exploitation. It also includes human trafficking, modern slavery, county lines and counter terrorism.

At the end of the training people should know how to spot signs that vulnerable people may be at risk, know how to report their concerns and who to contact whilst protecting themselves.

Carmarthenshire County Council’s executive board member, Cllr Philip Hughes said: “This training helps taxi drivers recognise potential issues as they are the eyes and ears of the community and should they have any concerns they will know which authorities to contact.

"Safeguarding children is something we should all get involved in. Any child can be sexually exploited no matter what culture, ethnicity, religion, whether a boy or a girl from any background.”

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