One of the most heartwarming events in the taxi calendar has been pulled back from the brink. The Edinburgh Taxi Outing — which has run for around 80 years and takes children with additional support needs, life-limiting conditions and terminal illnesses for a special day out — is set to go ahead after a row over police escorts threatened to cancel it entirely.
The event, funded by the city’s taxi drivers who decorate their black cabs and lay on a memorable day for the children, was shelved earlier this week. Organisers said they’d been told of a policy change at the National Police Chiefs’ Council that meant officers could no longer provide the motorbike escort the outing depends on. Without that escort, organisers warned, the convoy of cabs would get stuck in traffic — leaving children waiting, stationary, for long and uncomfortable periods. With the comfort and safety of the youngsters as the number one priority, they reluctantly called it off.
The cancellation sparked an immediate public outcry. It later emerged that individual police forces decide how to apply the NPCC policy, meaning the call ultimately lay with Police Scotland. After conversations with the organising committee, Police Scotland announced it had agreed an “outline plan” to let the event run on its original route through the city centre. Superintendent Neil Wilson said the force’s focus throughout had been to support the outing, as it had done for many years.
For the drivers who give up their time and put their own money into the event every year, it’s a hugely welcome result — and a reminder of the good this trade quietly does in its communities.
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