Daniel Zeichner MP has branded the government as uncaring and out of touch after they rejected calls to assist struggling taxi drivers at Cambridge station.

The income of local cabbies has plummeted as train passenger numbers have fallen off a cliff due to the pandemic. Drivers have reported earning less than £30 a day during lockdown.

Mr Zeichner had suggested that fees from taxi drivers to rail operators to use the station rank could be paused. But in a letter to Mr Zeichner the minister stated that “the Government has concluded that no financial support should be provided”.

The Transport Minister went on to say: “taxis and private hire operators do also have the option of working at locations away from railway stations”

Daniel Zeichner MP said: “The Government are tone deaf on this. It’s a ‘let them eat cake’ response. There are no passengers at the station or anywhere else as people have been told to stay at home! Yet the drivers at the station have a specific issue – they worry if they don’t pay the rank fees, they can’t work there and fear they will lose future station work. Given that the Government now in effect run the rail companies surely some of the “Emergency Measures Agreements” for substantial subsidies to train operating companies could have been used to off-set the taxi rank fees. But it seems they just don’t care about taxis drivers.”