Latest news with #SteveMcNamara
BBC News
15-05-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Whitby hat-trick as Saints hammer Catalans
Betfred Super LeagueSt Helens (24) 40Tries: Whitby (3), Walmsley, Cross, Sailor, Murphy Goals: Whitby (6)Catalans (0) 0 Teenager George Whitby's 24-point haul led a sparkling St Helens to a one-sided win over play-off rivals Catalans stand-off, who turns 19 on Saturday, scored a hat-trick of tries and kicked six conversions from seven attempts as Saints eased the pressure on coach Paul Wellens with a display that had echoes of their 2022 Grand Final-winning Walmsley, Deon Cross, Tristan Sailor and Lewis Murphy also crossed the line to secure only the Red V's third win in the last eight Super League shines another spotlight on the future of Catalans coach Steve McNamara, who has now suffered three consecutive defeats and faces an RFL investigation following comments he made following last weekend's Challenge Cup semi-final loss to Hull Kingston to follow St Helens: Welsby, Sailor, Cross, Percival, Murphy, Whitby, Lomax, Walmsley, Clark, Lees, C. Sironen, Whitley, KnowlesInterchanges: Mbye, Paasi, Wingfield, DelaneyCatalans: Aispuro-Bichet, Yaha, Laguerre, Smith, Cotric, Keary, Fages, Satae, Da Costa, Navarette, Seguier, B. Sironen, PartingtonInterchanges: Romano, Pangai Jr, Sims, DezariaReferee: Liam Moore.
BBC News
19-03-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Black cabs could vanish from London by 2045, report warns
The black cab will vanish from the capital's streets by 2045 if something is not done to reverse decline in the trade, according to a study, by think tank Centre for London, said measures including simplifying the Knowledge - the memorisation of the roads in the city - would "reflect the reality of modern taxi operations".TfL said it would soon be publishing a new Taxi and Private Hire Action Plan "to ensure black cabs continue to play a vital role in the capital's transport system".Steve McNamara, the general secretary of the Licensed Taxi Drivers Association (LTDA) said the report was a "worst case scenario prediction", and said he hoped it was preventable by TfL. The Knowledge Introduced in 1865, mastering the Knowledge can take up to four years and involves learning all the streets within a six-mile (9.65km) radius of Charing for London suggests Transport for London (TfL) should make the exam less complex, simpler to study and easier to complete. "The course duration should reduce as a result of removing outdated and unnecessary aspects of the Knowledge," the report said. Mr McNamara of the LTDA said: "The knowledge is needed to keep a gold standard, we still need to be the best in the world, but the testing itself needs to be modernised."He suggested the exam became digitised, and broken down into modules, to make it more manageable. He added: "It's still relevant and important to know where you're going. There's no comparison with a sat nav." But Mr McNamara said the process had not been updated since the second World War, and "in that time the world has changed massively". The Centre for London report also suggests a number of financial benefits to the trade be introduced, including interest-free loans to help new drivers buy McNamara said taxis currently cost £75,000, but this increases to £100,000 when bought on finance. He agreed with the report and called for a system similar to Scotland, where taxis can be purchased through interest-free loans. The report also recommends establishing a 10-year strategy to recruit and retain drivers, as well as finding better ways to share information and notes that "London's Black Cab trade has declined dramatically over the past decade", with the Covid 19 pandemic "accelerating the rate of decline". Figures show that more than a quarter of all black cabs on the roads before the pandemic are no longer in operation. A TfL spokesperson said: "We recognise that black cabs play a vital role in the capital's transport system."We will soon be publishing a new Taxi and Private Hire Action Plan to ensure they continue to play a role in ensuring Londoners can move around the capital safely, sustainably and added: "TfL has already provided more than £50m in funding to the taxi trade across a range of initiatives to encourage taxi vehicle owners to retire their older, more polluting vehicles and encourage the uptake of clearer, greener vehicles."As a result, we are very proud that more than 60 per cent of the taxi fleet is now zero-emission capable and the fleet will be part of our transport system for the foreseeable future." Iconic Mr McNamara said: "What we're hoping with this report is that the Mayor recognises this is where we'll be without action, and we're hoping he'll take action before any of this happens."He called on the Mayor to recognise black cabs as part of London's public transport system, and asked for more freedom to travel around London. "If we can't access the roads – then it's not cost affective for our journeys," he said. He pointed to the exclusion of black cabs from certain roads in London, and the problems caused by Low Traffic Neighbourhoods (LTNs). "This report says we are iconic in London, it's true," he added. "The phone boxes are gone, the police officers are gone, it's just us and the buses left. But the Mayor needs to recognise us as more than just an icon. "Driving a cab around London is still a great career – people can earn a lot of money. "Let's confine this report to the annals of history."
The Guardian
19-03-2025
- Automotive
- The Guardian
London's black cabs destined for extinction in 20 years, TfL warned
Black cabs could disappear from London's roads in 20 years, a thinktank has warned, unless authorities take steps to halt the decline – including giving cabbies bigger loans for new electric taxis and making the Knowledge test easier. Centre for London said that if the number of taxis in the capital continues to fall at the current rate, there would be none left by 2045. Alongside the rapid growth of Uber and other private hire firms has been a parallel drop in black cabs, with the number licensed by Transport for London (TfL) dropping from 22,810 in 2013-14 to 14,470 in 2023-24. In 2024, just 104 licences were issued to new black-cab drivers, compared with 1,010 in 2016. Only zero-emission capable taxis can now be newly licensed, and the report said the cost of the new electric black cab was an issue, pushing purchase costs up by about 40% since 2017. A TfL scrappage scheme has ended, and government grants for a plug-in taxi have dropped to £4,000 and will end in 2026. The report found that the Knowledge of London requirement for black-cab drivers – a test so complex that scientists found it altered the shape of drivers' brains – was also a deterrent. It said an industry survey by Freenow, a cab-hailing app, found that more than half of private hire drivers had ruled out becoming a black-cab driver because of the lengthy process – typically three years or more – and almost a third considered the Knowledge 'too hard'. The thinktank said TfL should reform the test requirements to encourage more drivers to apply and qualify. It also urged the London mayor to lobby the government for an interest-free loan scheme for newly qualified drivers buying a purpose-built electric black cab. Antonia Jennings, chief executive of Centre for London, said: 'Black cabs are a fundamental part of London's cityscape. We must not let them become part of the capital's history. Alongside their cultural status, cabs offer what Londoners need today – accessible, convenient and safe transport. 'It's simply unthinkable for London taxis to become extinct by 2045. Government must step up to support the black-cab industry and turn this declining trajectory around, before it's too late.' Steve McNamara, general secretary of the Licensed Taxi Drivers' Association, played down the prospects of the taxis, officially known as Hackney carriages – first licensed in 1662, in horse-drawn form – disappearing from London's streets. 'We've been here since the time of Oliver Cromwell, and we aren't going anywhere soon,' he said, but added that the trade was 'at a crossroads'. Sign up to Headlines UK Get the day's headlines and highlights emailed direct to you every morning after newsletter promotion He said: 'With the right support we can cement its crucial role as a fully accessible part of London's transport mix and the world's best and greenest taxi service. However, without such support our trade faces very real existential threats and these can no longer be ignored by policymakers.' Tony Travers, a local government expert and LSE professor, said the traditional London taxi 'before it had to react to compete, didn't provide a great service: it may always have been regulated and accessible for disabled people, but Londoners will know it was never very easy to get them to go south of the river, or a long distance. And standing on a street to hail a cab late on a freezing winter's night was suboptimal. So the insurgents found it easy to take market share. 'Black cabs have caught up on all this stuff eventually – they won't disappear. Even if they were a purely heritage thing there would be a market for them: they remain a very powerful signifier of London.' A spokesperson for TfL said: 'We recognise that black cabs play a vital role in the capital's transport system. 'We will soon be publishing a new taxi and private hire action plan to ensure they continue to play a role in ensuring Londoners can move around the capital safely, sustainably and efficiently.'
