Taxi

Taxis and COVID-19: what you need to know

Our 2020 article for taxi and private hire drivers during the coronavirus outbreak: income support, licence extensions, hygiene and advice for passengers.

This article was first published in 2020 and is kept for reference. Rules may have changed since.

Every industry was hit hard by the coronavirus outbreak, and that included public hire and private hire taxi drivers. A lot of livelihoods were at stake as the virus continued to take its toll on the UK.

Self-employed workers were able to apply for taxable grants worth 80% of their average monthly profits to help make up for lost income. Most taxi drivers are self-employed and pay their bills week to week from what they earn driving.

However, many of these measures were not due to start until late May or early June. The advice at the time for self-employed workers was to apply for Universal Credit, leaving a gap of several weeks without income that put drivers in a difficult position.

Many key workers relied on taxis to get to and from work, especially as their hours had increased because of the virus. There was a case for treating taxi drivers as key workers, as without them many services would be short of vital staff. With taxis also being used to carry people affected by the virus, that case was growing.

There was some good news. In London, vehicle licences due to expire between 23 March 2020 and 30 June 2020 were extended for six months from the date the licence was due to end, subject to vehicle inspections. Other councils were expected to follow.

What should you do if you're still working?

If you chose to keep working during COVID-19, you knew you might be picking up people who had the virus without realising it. Because you meet members of the public all day, you were at a higher risk of catching it, especially if you were carrying people who worked in hospitals.

Unless you were taking someone to hospital with COVID-19 symptoms, you were entitled to turn down a fare. That included people with flu-like symptoms, people travelling from high-risk areas, and people who were or had been self-isolating. If you had been in contact with anyone like this recently, the advice at the time was to self-isolate for at least 7 days.

Practise good hygiene while working

Face masks and gloves might not have been practical for taxi drivers, and there were other ways to protect yourself from passengers who might be carrying the virus.

Avoid direct contact with passengers and their belongings. This is hard when you deal with the public all day, but you could ask passengers to keep their distance and sit in the back, and not let anyone sit in the front with you. If you had to handle someone else's belongings, you could use gloves or tissues.

Wash your hands regularly. This is harder when you're driving all day. If possible, keep antibacterial gel and wipes in the vehicle, use them after handling cash or belongings, and dispose of them properly between journeys.

Carry tissues in your cab. They are useful for you and your passengers to cough or sneeze into.

Don't sneeze into your hands. Sneeze into your elbow if you can. It is easier to spread the virus by touching your face, or other people, with your hands.

Don't touch your face. This was one of the main rules from the start. With your hands on the wheel most of the time, you may be less likely to touch your face than someone at a desk, but if you need to, use a tissue.

Be mindful of other passengers. If a passenger showed signs of illness before or during the journey, you could ask them to follow the same hygiene rules as you: offer tissues, wipes or hand sanitiser, and ask them to cough into a tissue or their elbow. A notice in the back for passengers to read before the journey could help. The aim was to avoid becoming ill and passing it on to other passengers.

Information for the public travelling by taxi

Whether taxi services were still running near you depended on decisions made by your local council, and this varied from council to council. Taxi drivers were classed as non-critical workers during the lockdown, though exceptions were being made case by case.

The advice was not to travel by taxi unless it was strictly necessary, and never to get in a taxi if you had any COVID-19 symptoms. Travelling put other people at risk, so it was important to take precautions to protect yourself, your driver and the public.

Here is what passengers were asked to keep in mind:

Always sit in the back seat to keep your distance.
Avoid physical contact with the driver.
Avoid paying in cash. Pay by contactless card or through an app if there is one.
If you have luggage, lift it in and out of the vehicle yourself.
Carry antibacterial wipes so you can clean the seatbelt and door handles before and after use. Some taxi firms were already supplying them.

If you had any doubts about travelling by taxi, you could contact your local taxi firm to ask about the rules they had in place. The overall message was to travel by taxi only if it was really necessary and use other ways of getting about otherwise.

If you drive a taxi or private hire vehicle, you can read about cover on our taxi insurance page.