Grants to help Scottish cabbies who've lost income from Covid
Each eligible driver will be able to claim £1500
Taxi and private hire drivers affected by the pandemic will be able to claim for a new grant being launched this week across Scotland.
Coucils will directly approach an estimated 38,000 drivers inviting them to claim the £1,500 funding to help with their fixed costs.
Drivers must be licensed for the period October 9 2020 to at least January 31 this year to be eligible.
The grant comes on top of support from other funding for loss of income available from the Scottish Government's Covid-19 Public Transport Mitigation Fund and the UK Government's Self-Employment Income Support Scheme.
Finance Secretary Kate Forbes said: "We know how difficult this pandemic has been for taxi drivers and their families.
"They've truly gone the extra mile, continuing to provide a vital service for key workers and vulnerable individuals throughout the lockdown and beyond.
"Following the introduction of tighter regulations at Christmas, I have trebled the budget originally announced for this fund to £57 million, enough to provide grants of £1,500 to all of Scotland's 38,000 taxi and private hire drivers.
"It will help to support the taxi trade by augmenting existing support and assisting drivers in meeting fixed costs including licence plate fees, rental fees and insurance payments for taxis not on the road.''
Not enough
John Wood from Airdrie Taxis and says it's not enough: "A lot of the drivers haven't worked since March, and the ones which have are scraping a living.
"Taxi drivers in Wales have already received £4000 in grants. In Northern Ireland they've already received £1500 and are waiting on their second grant. We've had absolutely nothing!
"Taxis still have to go through their tests. Everything's money for us. Work has been decimated, the only thing that's keeping us going at the moment is supermarkets, which is 20% of our total work.
"A lot of the drivers haven't worked since March, and the ones which have are scraping a living."