Member

Amendments 235B and 235C were tabled by the noble Lord, Lord Borwick, and supported by the noble Baronesses, Lady Brinton and Lady Grey-Thompson. I want to be clear from the outset that I hear and understand the concerns of the noble Lord and other noble Lords who have spoken, and of disabled people and users of taxis and private hire services in general. Many disabled people rely on taxis and, for the last 15 or 20 years, private hire services, for their day-to-day mobility. Those services, as has been remarked, must rightly be accessible to them. Across England, over half of taxis are wheelchair accessible but only 2% of private hire vehicles are. The majority of wheelchair-accessible taxis operate in our largest cities and the number of such vehicles available at one time will inevitably be fewer still, particularly when some or many of them are being used for home-to-school transport provision at some times of day.