Call for more cabbies

A joint project by London mayor Ken Livingstone and the London Development Agency is aiming to increase the number of the capital’s black cab drivers who are women and/or from black and minority ethnic (BME) communities.

Although BME people make up one-third of London’s citizens, they account for fewer than 4% of its black cab drivers. And just 1.6% of black cabs are driven by women.

The project will support would-be cabbies from the under-represented groups by providing language and numeracy training where appropriate, as well as childcare provision while they study for the “Knowledge” test.