Sir Sadiq Khan was heavily criticised by the Conservatives after a compensation bill of more than £7 million was racked up due to delays in issuing licences to taxi and private hire vehicle drivers. Nearly 18,000 drivers have already been given special payments by Transport for London due to the licensing problems. The compensation scheme was for drivers whose renewed licence was issued between 1 September 2024 and 31 December 2025. A TfL spokesperson said: "We are very sorry to drivers who experienced issues with our processing times of private hire driver licences. Black cabs queue outside Victoria Station, in London (AFP/Getty)The FOI release showed that TfL made 17,972 compensation payments to taxi and private hire drivers after they were impacted by licensing delays.