London (dpa) – After truck and bus drivers, now taxi drivers too: the British Taxi and Hire Car Association assumes that there is a shortage of around 160,000 taxi drivers in the country.

According to the Licensed Private Car Rental Association (LPCHA), the main reason for this is lower demand during the pandemic, as the BBC reported on Friday. Many did not return to work after the closings.

It is estimated that the number of taxi drivers in the country before the pandemic was around 300,000. Now only less than half are active. The problem is compounded by the backlog of licenses, driver tests and vehicle registrations, the association continues. That led to a “perfect storm”. “This is a national issue that has an impact everywhere,” said LPCHA chief Steve Wright of the BBC.

The taxi driver shortage now fuels concerns about the safety of people leaving late at night or early in the morning. “With a focus on risk to women and their safety at night and thousands of people working at night in the country, we cannot underestimate the central role these services play in keeping people safe at night,” she said the head of Night Time Industries. Associaton Michael Kill of the BBC.