Hundreds of London drivers for taxi-hailing apps like Uber and Bolt are "drowning in debt and destitution" as a result of prolonged licensing delays at Transport for London (TfL), a trade union says.
The IWGB union, which represents private-hire drivers, says it has already heard from more than 500 drivers affected by the delays.
It says delays at TfL have left some drivers unable to work for months at a time, leading them to take out loans, while others have missed payments on their mortgages.
TfL has apologised for the delays and says it has "experienced some issues which have impacted our processing times, compounding the difficulties we experienced following the cyber incident last year".
'I haven't been able to work'
Kambiz Hemati, a private-hire driver of 12 years who is waiting for his licence renewal, says he has paid £1,800 during the process so far, including for medical tests, a DBS check and the TfL fee.
He says: "I haven't been able to work for over a month.
"With no income I've had to borrow more and more money to keep up with my mortgage payments, my car instalments, my insurance.
"The frustrating thing is that even once TfL finally issues me with a licence, the nightmare won't end there - I'll have to work day and night for months to climb out of the debt I have accrued on account of TfL's disorganisation."
Private-hire drivers in London are required to apply to TfL to renew their licences every three years.
IWGB says if a driver's renewal is not processed before their existing licence expires then "they are forced off the road".
'We apologise'
A TfL spokesperson said: "We take our responsibilities for licensing taxi and private-hire drivers extremely seriously, to ensure the provision of safe taxi and private-hire services for the public.
"We have recently introduced a new licensing system which has delivered a number of benefits to licensees, including the ability to track their applications online.
"We are working closely with our system service provider to rectify any system issues and have increased the number of licensing staff who are processing and issuing licences."
TfL said that while the "vast majority of drivers" had been unaffected, it was "aware that some drivers have been impacted, mainly those where we had requested that the driver provides missing or additional information necessary for making a licensing decision".
The spokesperson said: "This has led to some drivers being unable to continue working. We apologise to any driver that has been affected and are working to resolve any urgent licensing issues."
The union says delays within TfL's licensing operation have meant that even drivers who applied and paid their £310 fee as early as possible, four months in advance, "have now been cut off from their livelihoods for indefinite periods".
After a meeting last week with the transport authority, the union said that TfL had been co-operating to fast-track some of the urgent cases, and that at least 70 drivers had now received their licences as a result, but it added that "far too many drivers have still been left waiting".
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