SCRIPT
London’s Cabbie Crisis
Evan Williams
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DATELINE STING |
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EVAN
HAILS CAB Open with
iconic London: Big Ben, London Eye etc. Evan hails a cab and jumps in. |
VO: In pandemic plagued London... in the cold depths of winter... an
icon of the city is suffering London’s famous black cabs are on the brink. |
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PROGRAM TITLE: London’s Cabbie Crisis |
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DALE LONDON’S STREETS Evan and Dale drive
around London in a taxi SUPER: Dale Forwood, taxi driver |
DALE: as
soon as you think of London, you think of the black taxis, don't you and the
red telephone boxes and things like that. We've lost that telephone boxes. DALE:
I've been driving the taxi for about nine years now since 2012. And I really
enjoy it. EVAN: What
do you love about it? DALE: You
know, you pick up people from all walks of life. They, they will talk to the
taxi drivers about their life. So, I hear some lovely stories VO: but under the UK’s strictest lockdown yet - London is eerily
quiet. Pubs, restaurants, theatres and non-essential shops are shut. The 21 million tourists usually here are gone... and the city’s workforce
is largely working from home. EVAN: It's absolutely dead isn't it. DALE: yeah EVAN: So,
this is Oxford circus. What would it normally be like at this time on a
Friday? DALE: Oh,
jam packed with people. Look at Oxford street now how quiet it is. I mean,
the pavements would have been full up with people, all of
these shops, open. EVAN: Everything
is shut. DALE:
Yep. VO: If you’re a taxi driver, that’s a problem. EVAN: Yeah. Nobody looks like they're looking for a cab. DALE: No, nobody. DALE: in lockdown, there's no guarantee you're going to get a fare. So you could work all day and not get fare. VO: And for Dale, that’s a very expensive problem DALE:
This is the electric taxi. I bought it in February in 2020. I didn't foresee
that we were going to have a lockdown in March, which we did. Um, so the taxi
cost me 70,000 pounds, which I pay over a five-year plan. DALE: I'm
still working literally just to try and pay my costs of running the taxi. VO: It’s a losing battle. Dale isn’t making enough to cover her
costs because her taxi income has dropped by 80 per cent. Government
grants have helped her stay afloat... But for London cabbies, the economic pain has been as drawn out as
the pandemic itself. |
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EXPLAINER – UK PANDEMIC SUPER: Boris Johnson, British Prime
Minister STRAP: 23 June 2020 |
VO: The UK has been hit hard by the pandemic. With over 4-million cases, and more than 125-thousand deaths, many
feel the coronavirus response failed. BORIS: As prime minister I take full responsibility for everything
that the government has done. After a
bad first wave, the country was re-opened in July for Summer. BORIS: I think people need to go out, I think people need to enjoy
themselves. And rediscover things they haven’t been able to do for a long
time. I want to see bustle, I want to see activity. Then in winter, infections skyrocketed, the virus mutated, and by January
hospitals were swamped with the sick and the dead. The country remains in strict lockdown... and now over a year on, London's
cabbies are still struggling to survive. |
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EXT –
TAXI RANK – DAY Evan and
Dale talk with drivers at a taxi rank.
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UPSOT EVAN:
we're looking at the black cabs because it's so iconic of London, you know,
it's such a cultural thing. VO: to hear how other cabbies are going, Dale and I meet some
drivers waiting at a normally busy central London taxi rank. EVAN:
COVID, how's it affecting black cabbies like yourselves? COLIN:
It's obliterated the trade COLIN: I
mean, I'll, I'll come out. I'll probably do 10 hours and I might get three
jobs, four jobs if I'm lucky. DAVE: say
you have to make 50 just to break even, you'll earn
30. And it'll cost you 20 pounds just to go to work. Crazy. EVAN: But
why keep coming out if it's costing you money? DAVE: it's
your sanity. I'm only working four days a week just to keep myself going because
otherwise you just go nuts. COLIN:
Mentally, you're knackered. You know, you don't want to get out of bed. BIG DAVE:
Coming to work is saving my marriage, right? If me and her were home all the
time, that would be it. VO: these drivers are still on the road, still coming to work. But most
are not. A peak taxi body says only 20 per cent of drivers are
working. BIG DVE:
A lot of the cab drivers have handed their badge back. The old boys, they're
not going to come back, a lot of them won't come back. COLIN: If
you go to any of the garages that like have a big fleet, they will take you
to a field where they got 200 cabs just sitting in a field, doing nothing. |
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EXT –
TAXI FIELD – DAY Dale and
Evan enter the taxi field and react. |
VO: I’d
heard about these taxi graveyards, so we decide to see one for ourselves,
just north of London. The day
we decided to visit an arctic cold front had swept in... creating one of the
coldest days of the year. EVAN: Could have chosen a sunny day to come out here. (laughs) EVAN:
Whew. Slippery Dale. Be careful. EVAN: So,
have you heard about this? DALE:
Yeah, it's been all in the papers hasn't it, and on the news. VO: These cabs have been here since the pandemic started EVAN: I
mean how many, that's like hundreds. DALE: Are there more down there? Yeah. EVAN:
Wow. EVAN:
What do you think when you see this DALE:
It's terrible. They just, it's just so sad. I'm just thinking, this is
people's livelihoods. What are these people doing? Work-wise.
you know, how are they surviving? EVAN:
Have you ever seen this number of taxis just sort of furloughed like this DALE: No.
No. DALE: I
just hope when we come out of these lockdown, these
people can come back to work. I hope this isn't permanent. VO: There are about 220 taxis in this field... Many are
owned by a company that rented them out to drivers. With no
work on the streets, drivers stopped renting the vehicles, so the company put
them in deep freeze |
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TAXI
FIELD PTC Evan PTC |
EVAN PTC: So, it's really one thing to hear about how badly hit London's cabbies
have been with the covid crisis but it really is another thing entirely to
see it. I'm shocked by the number of cabs that are parked up here, they don't
look like they're going to go anywhere fast either. and these aren't just
vehicles, they're not just cabs, each one of these vehicles represents
somebody's livelihood. it's a family without the income, it's somebody
without the certainty of that money. and this could go on for another several
months. And this
is only the tip of the iceberg. Official figures reveal that over one quarter of all
London cabs, nearly five thousand vehicles, are off the road... |
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SIMON’S GARAGE Evan meets the owners of the taxis in the field. SUPER: Simon Georgiou, GB Taxi
Services SUPER: Paolo Bolognini, GB Taxi Services |
Simon: Morning
guys, How are you doing? Evan:
Good. Good. How are you doing? Simon:
Not too bad. VO: most of the cabs in the field are owned by Simon and Paulo Simon: we've tried to sell some of the taxis. However, /// You can't
even sell them and get reasonable money back for them. VO: the
price they say, has crashed by two thirds. Their
garage business here is all that’s keeping them afloat. Evan: Have
you had any government support as a result of this? Simon:
we've had zero support from the government. We've tried, we've sent emails.
We've had no support whatsoever. Evan:
under any of the schemes? Simon: No
schemes, no support, nothing. Well, we left on our own to try and survive. Evan:
Bloody hell VO: These guys are in a tight spot. Their garage is an essential service that’s allowed to stay open
under lockdown. But because they’re open, they don’t qualify for government support.
And what’s the point of being open when there isn’t any work for
taxis in London? It’s a terrible catch 22 Simon: We
can't just close the doors and walk away from it. Our homes would be at risk.
Our families. Simon: There's, there's no support anywhere. Simon: It's a bit Like you've been left on your
own in it a desert. find your own source of water. That's how it feels We've
been left in this industry. Simon: We
don't believe this year London will get back to normality, especially with
the taxi industry. Paulo: Yes. We've got a vaccine now, but now that
it's this new strain of virus coming along. Who knows, who knows? Simon:
when London does get back to normality, I think it will only be running at
approximately 60, 70%. It will not be back to a hundred percent for many
years. VO: a grim prediction, for an old trade |
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EXPLAINER – CAB HISTORY SOURCE: LEVC |
VO: London’s taxis are called Hackney Carriages, harking back to
when horse drawn carts for hire were the first taxis in the world to be
regulated back in the 17th century. Through
the years they’ve been modernised, motorised... And now electrified. But it's
not the iconic black cab itself that makes London’s taxis stand out... it’s
what’s in the drivers’ heads. And that is called The Knowledge. It’s
London’s 25-thousand streets, all memorised. |
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FARRIER Evan meets Paulo at work SUPER: Paulo De
Almeida, Farrier SUPER: Lee Collins,
Farrier |
VO: learning the Knowledge today, is a man coming from another old
profession Paulo is a farrier, a hoof care specialist. Paulo: I love what I do. Don't get me wrong. I think it's a
fantastic profession shoeing horses and being a farrier. But I just wanna, I just want to drive a cab and just spend time in
London. VO: His mate Lee, another farrier turned cabbie, thinks the career
switch has more to do with future planning Lee: I think with the cabbing, majority of people tend to want to do
it older in life, you know, as the body starts to wear it a little bit Paulo: I've got a young family to support a family, obviously. Um, you know,
I need to, to think of longevity. How long can I keep shoeing, it's quite
laborious job. VO: So, at 48 years old, after a quarter century as a farrier, the
master has become the apprentice again. Paulo is swapping his hammer and anvil for a scooter and maps – the
tools of choice for learning London’s labyrinthine streets. |
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AUSTRALIA HOUSE Paulo
stops his bike and talks to Evan next to the Australian High Commission. At
the end of the scene, see Paulo ride off on his bike. |
Upsot. VO: The knowledge is a legendary test that takes about 3 to 5 years on
average to study and pass. It's thought to be the highest bar for entry for any taxi service in
the world. Paulo: I'm still at the beginning, if you like, of
the examination process. Evan: Another couple years
to go? Paulo: I reckon so. Yeah, two years if all goes
well. VO: today in central London, he's
learning a route, starting at a place with me in mind. Evan: So we're going to see
you at, um, Paddington station, right? Yeah /// and uh, good luck. We're not
going to time you. Paulo: There's no meter, right? All right. Thanks. PAULO: I'm going from Australia House to Paddington Station. Paulo
rides the route |
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PADDINGTON STATION Paulo finishes his route at Paddington Station and is met by Evan |
Evan: You alright mate?
That was the, uh, Paulo: Uh, I think it was all right,
actually. Evan: (laughs)
Okay. Give us a couple. Paulo: Okay. So, uh,
leave on right Strand. Right Aldwych. Left Drury lane. Left High Holborn.
Forward Princes circus. Leave by St Giles high street. Right George Evan: (laughs) That's
amazing. Paulo: So it's in there. Evan: You passed. It's
in there. You got it. Paulo: Well It's not as
easy as that. VO: Gaining The Knowledge is one thing... but getting into an industry
that’s on its knees is another Evan: How do you feel about doing the knowledge at
this particular point in time? I mean, with COVID
and everything else. Paulo: Yeah. It's mixed emotions because whilst at the moment I'm still
studying and still going through the process. By the time I got my badge two
years, they say I'm quite optimistic. The economy is going to be in a better
place. But for these, these, these guys and girls and you know, men and
women, that are cab drivers already, I feel for him because you can see,
look, it's, it's not moving. There's no one around. |
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THE GIG ECONOMY POND5: |
VO: it's not just the black cabbies who are hurting from the
pandemic. Sharing the pain are drivers for the gig-economy services like Uber
and Bolt. While most
black cab drivers are white In contrast, gig-drivers are nearly all black, Asian
or from Ethnic minorities including Eastern Europeans. |
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MICHAL – UBER DRIVER Evan gets in Uber and talks with Michal, the driver SUPER: Michal Krolczyk, gig driver |
EVAN: Hi, Michal. Evan, how are you? Michal:
Evan. Nice to meet you. Evan:
Nice to meet you too. Thanks for arranging to see us. Michal: How
are you today? Evan:
It's cold today. Isn't it? Michal:
It is Michal drives
for the apps Uber and Bolt. He’s
Polish, coming to the U-K five years ago for a better economic life. EVAN: So in a, in a normal time, you know, how is it, is it a, a
good job to have? MICHAL: it's very a good job to have Michal:
In a good time? So I could earn, let's say easily a
thousand pounds a week. Evan:
Wow. VO: but not anymore. He’s barely getting by. Michal is paying for his car with what’s called a
“rent to buy” contract. The idea is that he rents it for 254 pounds, or
about 500 dollars a week, and after four years, it’s his. Well, that was the idea before the pandemic. MICHAL: I'm struggling week by week, sir. So, so basically many,
many times last couple of weeks, I didn't have a full amount of the rent VO: if he misses a rental payment, the car has a built-in
security feature to remind him of it. MICHAL: if I'm not
going to pay the invoice EVAN: They're going to
turn on the alarm in the car. Yeah. If you haven't made the payments. Yeah. MICHAL:
Anytime I press the accelerator, there's going to be alarm. EVAN: So then you can't use the car. MICHAL:
No, because customer is going to think I have a broken car. EVAN: Wow EVAN: How are you feeling about it at the moment
MICHAL: I'm tired. I'm tired
of stressing out. Um, my mental health is not in the perfect condition. |
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MICHAL TESCO Michal walks out of Tesco
with a cheap meal and shows Evan. |
VO: Not making ends
meet, Michal is cutting corners where he can.... He’s surviving off cheap
supermarket lunch deals. Evan: You
feel it's good for you? Michal:
Uh, I don't believe so, but it's feeding me well Evan: It
does the job. Michal:
Does the job. VO: With
so little work, he took out loans. He estimates
he’s now ten thousand pounds, or roughly 20-thousand dollars in personal
debt. Evan: And then do you think then keeping going with
uber, but can you keep going with Uber or do you need to find something else? Michal: No. At the moment,
the biggest problem is this car cost me so much in the last one and a half
year. And that's my, that's my investment. Once I lose it once one, let's say
one invoice unpaid, and they tow it. Once they tow it, my career is end.
Who's gonna give me a car? |
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MICHAL – UBER DRIVER Back in the car |
VO: Despite working during the pandemic, Michal says the app
companies offer little to no help. Michal:
Help from Uber it's to give a discounts for the
customers. That's the only way they trying to help the industry /// And if
you get a COVID-19, they're going to pay you 90 pound a week for two weeks,
that's it? Nothing more. VO: Catching COVID is a real risk
in an Uber, where sharing a tight space with the public is inevitable. And where at the height of the UK’s
winter wave, there were 68-thousand new cases in just one day. But Michal's concern isn’t so much with
the virus itself - it’s that he can’t afford the time off from earning money.
Michal:
It's scary. It's scary. Let's say I get ill or I'm going to be off for a
week. That's it? That's it. I'm not going to have the money for a car. |
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MICHAL'S FAMILY Playground with family |
VO:
Michal’s not the only one who relies on his income. He has a one-year-old son, born just three months before the
pandemic struck. And his girlfriend Dominika, is a full-time
mum. This is a young family living on the
edge. Evan: And if this goes on for several more months, which it could do
with the new strains, what's your future, then? Michal: That's going to destroy me. That's going to destroy me
mentally, financially. As I said, week maximum two weeks Evan: Right. Let's hope it
doesn't come to that. Dominica: We're coping somehow but it's not perfect. Evan: Well, I wish you all
the best with it, guys. You're a hard worker, so I know you'll get through
it, but, um, yeah, it's difficult times. Michal: The question is how are we going to get through it? |
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Dateline sting |
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AD BREAK |
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Dateline sting |
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LONDON Transport for London.mp4 SOURCE: Transport for London |
The U-K
has been badly hit by the Coronavirus pandemic. London is
firmly locked down... the streets are dead... and drivers of the famous black
cabs are desperately out of work. They’re also furious with the changes to the city’s streets brought
in under emergency covid measures. To allow
more space for social distancing - or that’s what the city said - some
footpaths have been widened...new cycle lanes have popped up... and a war has
erupted over who gets to use London’s roads. Head-to-head
in this battle are the cabbies and cyclists. |
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CYCLIST - BRIDGE Evan meets Donnachadh
at Blackfriars Bridge, on one of London’s busiest bike paths SUPER: Donnachadh
McCarthy, Stop Killing Cyclists |
Donnachadh: morning Evan. Evan:
Good morning Donnachadh. How are you? Donnachadh: I'm good. Glorious morning. Evan: is
this your regular bike? Donnachadh: Yep. Evan: I used to have one of those and I got nicked the other week VO: Donnachadh McCarthy is a cycling activist. He’s taking on the taxi lobby and pushing
for more cycle lanes in the city. Donnachadh: We're here on Blackfriars bridge, Evan:
What about the, uh, the taxi drivers? I mean, obviously you've taken here. We
can see here an entire lane, maybe two lanes of what was traffic spot. So what was the taxi drivers response? Donnachadh: they went absolutely nuts. They, they took
out legal injunctions to try and stop the cycle lane being built. Evan:
This one. Donnachadh: Yeah. Evan:
Right. Donnachadh: Every single infrastructure or action we want
to take on safer streets in London, the cab industry is opposing it. Donnachadh: And they are very, very powerful lobby. Case in point, the taxi lobby recently took
the city to court over a nearby flashpoint, which Donnachadh
is going to show me now. |
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DONNACHADH CYCLES TO BISHOPSGATE |
Donnachadh: okay,
here we go. [00:07:18] as you can
see on the righthand side, this is a temp CV-19 cycle lane that's been put in
that's a step in the right direction. but going east you have
to share the road with the cars and buses. |
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BISHOPSGATE CYCLEWAY Donnachadh and Evan at the controversial
Bishopsgate cycleway SOURCE: Credit: Greater London Authority |
EVAN: hey that was quick. Donnachadh: yeah I’m
quick. VO - This is the frontline in London's
traffic war. Donnachadh: We're at Bishopsgate in front of Liverpool
station. This is the heart of
the city of London. Hundreds of thousands of people use this, uh, junction
every day. VO: Liverpool
Street Station would usually be full of commuters... and taxis touting for
fares – but when COVID struck, London Mayor Sadiq Kahn banned taxis from travelling
in front of the station. Unsurprisingly,
cab drivers didn’t like it. Two taxi
industry groups took the City and the Mayor to court. The
cabbies argued they can’t be banned from bus lanes because they are
public transport. The judge agreed... but Donnachadh does not. Donnachadh: The
idea of a private vehicle for hire, a chauffeur for hire is public transport,
it's nonsense. Donnachadh: Give me a break. Basically, the cabbies serve basically their
customers are rich, rich tourists, rich executives, and rich young people on
a night out. There is a small sector of disabled people who need them around
1%. There is a need for that. VO: But aside from that, Donnachadh wants most
taxis gone Donnachadh: But I
look, I understand that we are actually saying,
look, a lot of your industry is serving an unnecessary need that we can't
afford for the health of London and safety of Londoners. |
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DALE ON CYCLEWAYS Dale drives Evan around London in her taxi to show off the city’s new
cycleways. SUPER: Dale Forwood,
taxi driver |
VO: For
now, cabbies like Dale are celebrating the win in court, they’re still not
allowed down Bishopsgate while the city appeals. Dale: We
are public transport, and we should be allowed to go through this road on
Bishop's gate. We should not be excluded. We are public transport. Dale: I
would drive up this road all day long, all day long. This is the main routes
we've learnt on the knowledge. And then you'll see, Oh, I can't go down here
now except buses and cycles. VO: For
Dale, the street changes are the final straw. DALE: it's like, we can't, you can't crucify us anymore. Not only do
we have a lockdown that they're closing roads, narrow roads, stopping us, going
down certain roads, not only do we not have the passengers, they're making
our job more difficult. |
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DALE – GOPRO Dale drives her cab,
filmed by fixed GoPro |
VO: Dale feels like her industry is being kicked while it’s down. Right now, she’s contemplating what to do. She’s not earning enough
fares in a day to cover her costs. DALE - Hi lovely, I'm so pleased to
see you. CUSTOMER - Sorry? DALE - I'm so pleased to see you. CUSTOMER - I'm so pleased to see
you. VO: Finally, a passenger, and she’s Australian. Like all good London
cabbies, Dale strikes up a conversation. CUSTOMER: it's
actually got quite bad Australians here now. And there's literally like
Australians living in homeless shelters in London DALE - Oh my goodness CUSTOMER - Yeah
it's really hard. These kinds of interactions are what
Dale loves about her job. DALE - Nice to meet you CUSTOMER - Have a good day. DALE - And you. Thank you. Bye. See ya. Oh wasn't she lovely. that's so good i
was getting really worried not having a fare. What are the chances of that? A
lovely Australian lady. But with only one passenger in 6
hours - it’s not sustainable |
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EXT – DALE'S HOME – DAY Evan meets Dale at her home At the end of the scene, Dale leaves home, picks up her van and makes
supermarket deliveries. |
EVAN: hi Dale Though
vaccines are bringing hope, and the country is slowly emerging out of
lockdown... Dale has a while to wait yet before she's back earning a decent
wage from her taxi – for now she’s had to adapt with a second job. EVAN: This is gorgeous, this place. VO: COVID
rules mean I can’t go inside her quaint old cottage, but I get to meet her
pet chihuahua and a saved chicken. EVAN:
Dolly and Daisy, oh they look freezing. DALE: Yeah I've rescued them. So. All
right. So we're all good friends. Okay Dolly, we go
in now. VO: For
her second job, Dale’s now driving a different vehicle, but she’s still using
her knowledge of London’s streets. DALE: So for the last 10 months I've been doing supermarket
deliveries for a big supermarket, not in my taxi. I drive their van and I'm
taking my taxi down, get in the van and do my deliveries right up to 10
o'clock at night. That's five days a week. Then on my two days off, I go in
town, in my electric taxi to try and do some work. DALE: I've never worked so hard for such little money doing the
deliveries, but it has been a saviour and I'm one of the lucky ones. Some
people that aren't lucky enough to get the supermarket job. I never ever
envisioned to me being a supermarket delivery driver, but that really has
saved me. DALE: you've just got to get out and try and earn some sort of
living. And then every month you're hoping, but come out of lockdown, things
will be back to normal. You just got to keep positive and hopefully that will
happen. |
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CREDITS |
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NWT |
Next week
on Dateline: We look
at how China is dealing with its rapidly ageing population. Are
China's elderly being forgotten as traditional family values are lost? And up
next, The Feed |