For the last four months, Uber driver Nikki McFarlane’s car has sat in his drive. It’s not because he has been on holiday, or off sick. Nor is there an issue with his gleaming 2021 Hyundai Tuscon Estate Hybrid. “I’m stuck sitting at home not working,” said the 45-year-old. “I can’t tell you the amount of money I’ve lost. It’s thousands of pounds. What kind of craziness is that?”

McFarlane applied to renew his license back in October, but has been waiting ever since. He one of what’s estimated to be thousands of ride-hailing app drivers who, due to delays in TfL license renewals, has been forced out of work.

TfL requires private hire drivers to renew their license every three years. Without licenses, Uber and Bolt drivers have found themselves cut off from their ability to earn for weeks, and in some cases months, on end.

The Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain (IWGB), which represents gig economy workers, said it has already heard from over 500 drivers affected by the delays, and estimates that thousands of drivers could be impacted.

The union said that delays have even hit drivers who applied for renewal up to four months in advance, the earliest date possible. It held a protest outside TfL’s Stratford office on 1 April, where it called on TfL to grant temporary licenses to the drivers still waiting, and to address the underlying issues causing the backlog.

TfL accepts that there is a problem. A spokesperson said that the recent introduction of a new licensing system had impacted processing times, which “compounded the difficulties experienced following the cyber incident last year.” In September 2024, TfL fell victim to a “sophisticated” and “aggressive” cyber attack, in which hackers gained access to customer data including names, addresses, bank details and contact details.

But for McFarlane, this isn’t just about delays: “This is just straight up incompetence,” he said. After applying for a license renewal in October, he then received a set of follow-up questions about his medical record in November.

He approached his GP, who clarified TfL’s question, thinking it would only be a matter of time before he got the all clear. “Three or four weeks passed, and only then did TfL come back to me, with the second medical item that they wanted clarified. So I got my doctors to sort that. Then three or four weeks pass again, and they come up with a third item.

“The only thing left for my doctor to do is to write: ‘Nikki is capable of working’ in Mandarin. TfL are ignoring the heartache and the devastation of people stuck in a situation where they can’t work.”

He’s not the only frustrated driver. Satnam Singh, aged 50, hasn’t been able to work since mid February. “The directors of TfL, they should see our pain,” he said. “They are playing with the lives of drivers and their families. We spend our whole day waiting for a response. We cannot do anything else, due to this stress.

“We have lost all our savings now. Now we are in debt. It is really a very hard time. Sometimes I borrow money from my friends, sometimes from my family back home in India.”

“I cannot take my children out for holidays because I cannot afford that at the moment. They feel upset when they see dad in a situation where he’s not happy, where he’s not well because of the delays to his license.”

On top of these day-to-day living costs, drivers report having to fork out a big chunk of their earnings to pay for license renewal. Kambiz Hemati, a private hire driver of 12 years, said that getting his medical reports from the GP, DBS check, and the £310 TfL fee has set him back £1,800 on his license renewal.

“The frustrating thing is that even once TfL finally issues me with a license, the nightmare won’t end there,” he said. “I’ll have to work day and night for months to climb out of the debt I have accrued on account of TfL’s disorganisation.”

While suddenly losing the ability to earn would inflict suffering on most workers, drivers working for platforms like Uber and Bolt are particularly vulnerable. That’s not only because they’re already struggling, as fares fall and platforms take bigger cuts from trips.

Many drivers borrow heavily to invest in an expensive car so as to attract a higher customer rating, or in order to conform with a push by platforms towards electronic vehicles. These costs – insurance and monthly car finance – can’t just be paused while drivers wait day to day to hear if their license has been approved.

It’s not the first run-in drivers have had with TfL. In the past, clashes have broken out over TfL’s imposition of a “discriminatory” mandatory written English SERU test for drivers, an exemption for black cabs only from the Congestion Charge, and a failure to enforce Uber’s compliance with a Supreme Court ruling over worker status.

TfL doesn’t cap the number of private hire licences it grants, which drivers argue leads to over-hiring. Drivers argue this reduces their power when organising against ride-hailing giants like Uber and Bolt, who are under less pressure to improve conditions when they can rely on a large stream of new drivers.

Alex Marshall, president of the IWGB, said: “Drivers bend over backwards to comply with every one of TfL’s demands – filling out stacks of paperwork, coughing up hundreds of pounds, and abiding by strict regulations. The same does not apply to operators like Uber and Bolt, who are essentially given carte blanche to abuse drivers however they wish.

“Despite holding up their end of the bargain with TfL, drivers are now facing extended periods out of work, which for many is proving both financially and emotionally ruinous. TfL must provide indefinite license extensions to any driver still left waiting through no fault of their own – this measure would not only allow them to get back on the road to earn, but would put them on an equal footing with black cabs.”

TfL said it has increased the number of licensing staff who are processing and issuing licences.

A TfL spokesperson said: “The vast majority of drivers have been unaffected, however we are aware that some drivers have been impacted, mainly those where we had requested that the driver provides missing or additional information necessary for making a licensing decision.

“This has led to some drivers being unable to continue working. We apologise to any driver that has been affected and are working to resolve any urgent licensing issues.

“We take our responsibilities for licensing taxi and private hire drivers extremely seriously, to ensure the provision of safe taxi and private hire services for the public.”