Mayor introduces age limit for London taxis in bid to improve air quality

The Mayor of London is to ban taxis over 15 years old from operating on London's streets and introduce twice-yearly testing as part of efforts to reduce air pollution in the capital.

The Mayor's Air Quality Strategy, Clearing the Air, will demand that from 1 January 2012 no black cab over 15 years old will be licensed by the Taxi and Private Hire Office, a move expected to affect around 1,200 vehicles, while all new taxis will need to meet Euro 5 emissions standards from from 1 April 2012. Also from January 2012, all new cabbies will also be required to take a mandatory eco-driving course before they are licensed.

From 2013, all taxis will be required to take two full MOT tests each year, rather than a single inspection as at present, although they will be free to have this carried by any MOT centre rather than being limited to the three inspection centres run by Transport for London (TfL). At the same time, the Mayor and TfL announced a £1 million fund to encourage taxi owners to upgrade to low emission vehicles such as electric black cabs.

Boris Johnson, Mayor of London, said: 'London's magnificent cabbies are famous the world over for their top notch service, but I also want the capital's taxi fleet to match up to the highest environmental standards that a great city like ours deserves.

"From 2012 when the world heads to London, we will remove the oldest, dirtiest cabs from our streets. But we are also offering a juicy carrot, with the establishment of a fund to help speed up the introduction of electric black cabs. This forms part of a robust package of long-term measures to progressively clean up London's air."

The Mayor estimates that road transport is responsible for around 80 per cent of airborne pollution (PM10) in central London where air quality is worst, with black cabs contributing 20 per cent of this.