Here is a professionally written Open Letter from the London Cab Drivers Club (LCDC) addressed directly to Heidi Alexander, holding her to account for her inaction during her time as Deputy Mayor for Transport at TfL, particularly around safeguarding, PHV regulation, and her failure to act on the GLA’s own recommendations.
Open Letter from the London Cab Drivers Club
To Heidi Alexander MP, Minister of State for Transport
Date: 17 June 2025
Subject: Your Legacy of Neglect on Safeguarding and Private Hire Regulation While at TfL
Dear Ms Alexander,
We write to you on behalf of the London Cab Drivers Club (LCDC) with deep concern and growing anger over your legacy as Deputy Mayor for Transport at Transport for London (TfL) — a legacy marked by repeated failures to protect the public, particularly vulnerable women and children, from the risks associated with inadequately regulated Private Hire Vehicles (PHVs).
As you now serve in the Department for Transport, the position you hold demands public trust and moral authority. Yet during your time at TfL, you wilfully ignored evidence, dismissed repeated trade warnings, and failed to act on the recommendations of the London Assembly’s 2020 report “Raising the Bar: Improving Taxi and Private Hire Services in London”.
That report, backed by cross-party Assembly Members, called for critical reforms — including:
• Mandatory CCTV in PHVs for safeguarding,
• A redefinition of the ‘fit and proper person’ test, and
• Stronger enforcement against cross-border hiring loopholes that let poorly vetted drivers operate with impunity.
Your office did none of these things.
Worse, you oversaw an era in which TfL prioritised the commercial convenience of app-based operators like Uber, over the safety of passengers and the legal obligations of the licensing authority. The LCDC and others warned of the safeguarding implications as far back as 2014, but these warnings were repeatedly ignored.
Now, in 2025, following the Baroness Casey Review and the Government’s damning response to the Grooming Gang National Audit, the systemic failures in safeguarding, vetting, and PHV regulation are finally being acknowledged at national level. It is too late for many victims. But the public is entitled to ask: where were you when these risks were being raised again and again under your remit at City Hall?
The answer is simple: you did nothing.
You failed to act on the very risks that have now been confirmed in multiple inquiries — from Rotherham to Rochdale, from Baroness Casey to the Home Office. And while local licensing bodies were being held to account for child safeguarding failures, you presided over London’s largest PHV fleet in Europe without implementing basic protections like CCTV, improved background checks, or real-time licence enforcement.
This isn’t merely a policy failure. It’s a dereliction of public duty.
You now hold ministerial responsibility for national transport and licensing policy. With that in mind, the LCDC formally calls upon you to:
1. Resign your position as Minister of State for Transport; and
2. Step down as Member of Parliament, on the basis that your failure to implement safeguarding reforms at TfL represents an unaddressed breach of public trust.
The people of London and the victims of abuse across the country deserve accountability. And they deserve better leadership than you provided — or are now in a position to provide.
Yours sincerely,
The Executive Committee
London Cab Drivers Club (LCDC)
