TfL’s Short-Term Licenses: A win for the drivers but still more to fight for

Tuesday 8 April 2025: The IWGB Union was called into an emergency meeting with TfL this morning. As many of you will now be aware after an email from TfL, at this meeting it was announced that TfL will issue 3-month “short-term licences” to drivers who have submitted a complete renewal application pack and their licence has subsequently expired. Those drivers will not have to re-apply after 3 months - instead they will be issued a full licence for 2 years and 9 months. Clearly this is an admission of guilt from TfL and a step forwards from where we were a week ago when TfL denied the scale of the crisis and refused to admit that short-term licences were possible or even necessary. This is clearly the result of massive pressure on TfL from the IWGB. Hundreds of drivers, unionised with IWGB, have used their collective power to force TfL to take action, but the new short-term licences do not yet fully meet the demands of our campaign.

For the last few weeks the IWGB has been using every tool at the union's disposal to force TfL to end this crisis. To every driver who joined the WhatsApp group, helped to organise the campaign on Zoom, shared their story in the press, and turned up in force at TfL’s office last week to protest: you did this. You stood up not only for yourselves but for every driver suffering due to TfL’s licensing hell. Your actions forced TfL to take emergency measures, and that’s a sign driver power is growing. Up until now, TfL have refused to even recognise there was an emergency, so this is a significant development.

TfL also responded to the union’s demand for digital licences to resolve ongoing issues with drivers being kept out of work even longer while waiting for their licences to arrive in the post. Taking this step has forced TfL to work with the apps to ensure they accept these emergency measures. This demonstrates our power as a union to force the apps to work in drivers’ interests through pressure on TfL and sets an important precedent for our movement.

However, there are limitations to the win. In the meeting with TfL we continued to demand that licences be extended to all drivers who are unable to work. But drivers whose cases are stuck with Occupational Health are currently not being considered for short-term licences, and TfL have offered no solution to this bottleneck. We know this is an issue which continues to force many drivers into debt and hardship. The short-term licences will also not address problems faced by drivers who are currently experiencing DBS issues. The short-term licences will only be issued to drivers who have passed SERU and the English Language Test. And, given TfL’s incompetency, we know we will need to keep holding their feet to the fire to ensure the proper implementation of these short-term licences. If there are any issues, we need to call these out and hold TfL to account.

No driver should be out of work. No driver should have to hand back their car, go without food, or drown in debt. The power to win justice for every driver is in our hands. As a union we have shown that when drivers are united, organised, and ready for action we can pressure TfL to meet every demand and open the door for wins against the apps as well. For too long TfL and the apps have colluded to exploit us, but we the drivers are taking the power back into our hands and showing we can force them to act in our interests.

Throughout this crisis, drivers who have had their licences renewed have continued to fight for other drivers who are out of work. We can see today that this solidarity is crucial for victory. Now is the time to keep our foot on the pedal. Tomorrow - Wednesday 9 April 1pm - we will return to march on TfL’s office a second time, and now more than ever our numbers matter. TfL have made this decision hoping it will appease drivers and dissuade us from protesting. It’s on every one of us to prove them wrong and show TfL that we won’t rest until every driver is back on the road.

We invite you to:

• Attend the Drivers’ meeting tonight at 7pm on Zoom to decide next steps of the campaign.
• Attend the protest tomorrow on Wednesday 9 April at 1pm, E20 1GL, and rally others to join you.
• Join the IWGB and organise with your fellow drivers to transform this industry