Cabbies storm London City Hall over Uber row

Boris Johnson’s war with black cab drivers stepped up a notch today. His monthly Mayor’s Question Time session was abruptly shut down after cabbies packed out the public gallery of London City Hall to protest about what they see as Transport for London’s unfair regulations for Uber. As the video above shows, Johnson’s description of the cabbies as ‘Luddites’ did not go down well at all and the London Assembly’s deputy chair decided it should end.

Steve McNamara, general secretary of the Licensed Taxi Drivers’ Association, has told the Evening Standard Boris’s ‘Luddite’ was to blame, saying it was not ‘the smartest of moves but it escalated out of all proportion’. The fracas took a casualty too, as a member of City Hall security staff was knocked out and taken to hospital for ‘minor injuries’. Johnson condemned the cabbies’ actions on Twitter:

1/2 Vital Londoners see democratic process in action but behaviour of some cabbies at MQTs today undermines that

— Mayor of London (@MayorofLondon) September