A taxi driver grant scheme should be reopened because a third of cabbies have missed out, Unite Scotland has demanded.
The trade union has accused the Scottish Government of “withholding” £19 million in unawarded grants from the £57 million Taxi and Private Hire Driver Support Fund that has now closed.
But Finance Secretary Kate Forbes has instead pledged to give a second grant worth £1,500 to taxi drivers who received the first one – if the SNP government is re-elected.
About 25,333 eligible drivers out of an estimated 38,000 across Scotland applied for the £1,500 grant, according to the union.
READ MORE: ScotRail attacks 'reckless' union bosses as it faces new strike action after ticket examiners ballot
Unite’s Scottish secretary Pat Rafferty has also warned of a postcode lottery for a “top up” of coronavirus support awarded to taxi drivers by local authorities.
Several councils have announced discretionary grants, including Aberdeen and Dundee city councils which will offer additional grants of £1,000 for taxi and private hire drivers, while Angus Council has launched £2,500 worth of extra financial support.
Mr Rafferty said: “Despite the tentative easing of lockdown restrictions, the taxi trade remains decimated by the pandemic and will be one of the last trades to recover.
“Taxi operators and drivers are desperate for help, and the withholding of around £19 million is a disgrace.
“At every turn the Scottish Government has been dragged kicking and screaming into giving support to the taxi trade, which is in crisis.
“We are demanding that the Taxi and Private Hire Driver Support Fund be reopened to allow an additional top-up grant from this central pot of cash.
“The reality is that there is a postcode lottery in terms of the levels of support for the trade.”
Unite, which represents operators and drivers across the trade, has also been campaigning for the Scottish Government to deliver a £10,000 grant for each taxi operator, equivalent to support given to other small business owners.
READ MORE: Starmer: Johnson's broken Brexit promises do not justify Northern Ireland violence
Mr Rafferty added: “Urgent and immediate help is required before thousands of businesses become unsustainable
“For many people taxis are a vital part of the transport network, but without help many will not survive the Covid-19 crisis.”
On Twitter, Ms Forbes wrote: “During the election period, I cannot make announcements on behalf of Scot Gov about business grants, including for taxi drivers. However, I can confirm that if re-elected we will double the taxi grant to those already in receipt of the first £1500 grant.
“Our business support schemes exceed the consequentials we’ve received, and we’ve gone further to help a number of industries. We will use any funds available in the taxi scheme to deliver a second grant to all recipients of the first £1500 grant.
“This is in response to public comments today about Scot Gov not agreeing to further taxi grants, that’s partly because announcements cannot be made during the pre-election period.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here