- The driver's in the back, so.
- You could borrow my waggon.
It's over there.
There it is, right there.
- Oh, that's yours, yeah? All right.
(men laugh)
I might do that too, you know?
Let's see what's really going on in the streets of London,
so, yeah, you guys in-
- Oh, you're not filming?
Oh no, I mustn't advertise! (men laugh)
- Don't mind these guys,
always follow me around with cameras and stuff.
- Do you want me to sort them out for ya?
(men laugh) - So, how's it going for you?
- It's going well.
We got nine days left until the election next week,
and the bookies have us in second place,
but they don't- - Is that right?
- Yeah, they had us in second place for about four months,
but they don't invite me to debates for the BBC.
So- - Who do they invite?
They invite Khan and Bailey,
and they have the same argument they've had for five years-
- Yeah. - And nothing seems to change.
So, I've been listening to you guys for the last six months,
I've probably taken three or four hundred cab rides,
and I was talking to Stewart today,
and we actually went from Old Street to London Bridge-
- Yeah.
- I drove it, it took me 30 minutes,
we tried to go down Bishop's Gate,
couldn't go down Bishop's Gate,
we talked all about the street space scheme
and everything that's going on.
It's just frustrating to drive this city.
It makes your job hard.
- Well, it's not only, it's the passenger as well.
- [Brian] Yeah.
That's what I felt today, because he said-
- You know, the passengers don't want to sit in the back
and watch the metre- - [Brian] Right.
- Going 'round.
You know, they want to get to A to B as quick as they can-
- [Man] And all the traffic's not back yet.
- The driver and the passenger.
Yeah, exactly.
- [Brian] And the traffic's not back yet, right?
The city's probably at what, 20, 30 percent maybe?
35 percent?
It doesn't feel like it's all back.
- No, it's not back. It's not all back.
- [Brian] We're still-
- Because of the road closures.
- Right. - Or restrictions,
I should say.
The traffic does seem heavy,
but if the restrictions were lifted,
It wouldn't be so heavy.
- [Brian] Yeah. - You know.
But if it all comes back, the traffic,
the city, especially the city-
- There's no way, right?
And if people can't move around in the city,
they can't do business, right? - No.
- I took a cab the other night
and the cabbie said,
he had a businessman in the back,
he said, "I used to be able to do five meetings in a day
in the city, now I can do two, because of traffic."
And if that's the case,
then there's no business being done here.
And I think we've got to get people
back in these office buildings too.
This working-from-home thing,
I don't think it's viable for London in the long run.
- Everyone loses there:
small business, big business, medium business.
Everyone loses. - Yeah.
And also I think the businesses themselves lose.
People come to London because you have
the greatest talent in the world
working together in the same area.
If you move to Kent,
well next, they're going to move your job to Scotland,
and then they're going to move your job to the Philippines.
- Yeah. - And then we
don't have jobs anymore.
- Yeah.
- So I worked in, I was in the banking sector for 10 years.
I used to work right in Broadway Circle,
and I would get on the phone with these CEOs and say,
"We need 25 percent of your workforce back safely now.
What's it gonna take to get people back here?"
And just say it's time to get back to work.
That's what I think we need to do.
Enough of the politics, you know?
- What about, have you been up Regent Street?
- [Brian] Yes, I have.
It's frustrating.
It's like one lane, right? - One lane.
- [Brian] You know, bus breaks down, and it's-
- It did last week. - Last week.
Last Saturday.
They closed it, they closed Regent Street.
Bus was at the lights,
and no one could get 'round either side.
- [Brian] So, how is London gonna get back to business,
when it can't move?
- Well, I've gotta go!
- [Brian] Yeah, all right, gotta go.
Let me stay out of your way.
- Thanks, appreciate your time.
- I haven't gotta move,
but if it's on the telly, this is my tea break,
all right.
- Yeah. (men laugh)
So, what do you think we need to do different in this city?
I'm always asking everybody, so.
- They've got to unblock all these roads, haven't they?
I mean, that road up there is a joke.
Right, you get the poor old lorries come down here,
then they're stuck.
And they've got to try to get all the way
back up there again, haven't they?
- Right. - So, it's like
one comes down here today,
massive great lorry, went down there,
and the road man came out, said, "Where's it gonna go?"
He said, "Primrose."
I said, "Oh, that's up there."
I said, "The only way you can get, 'cause you can't
go 'round the back roads. Some streets are too small.
It's gonna have to go back up there."
The bloke said, "Well, we're gonna have to take it,
we're gonna have to pay the fine,
'cause we pay for the load."
- [Brian] Right.
- Simple, innit?
It's a joke, innit?
I mean, the danger of it is,
sometimes they'll come up to the park down there,
"Where's New Street?"
I said, "It's right over there, mate."
Well, we've got (indistinct), with their loads,
to go right over there.
When I was a bag driver, you could just go bang,
through there, and away, didn't you?
- Right. And that's how business kept going.
- Yeah.
- With all these laws, it just slows all the business down.
- It's the city, innit?
- The mayor's just out of touch with people in London.
That's what I think.
I don't think he comes out to the streets,
doesn't talk to people,
he runs and hides from people,
- Yeah, I've seen on the front page all the time,
that he's got his bouncers out,
little people on push carts coming for general chit-chat,
and he runs off.
- I was up in Enfield,
I talked to the same biker that talked to him,
I was talking to him about his LTN.
He wouldn't even talk to him.
The people were reasonable.
They were just saying, "Mr. Mayor,
we got some questions for you,"
and he hid in a coffee shop for an hour,
then he had to be ushered to his armoured vehicle,
- With his bouncers out, innit?
- I know. I'm actually out here trying to talk to people.
The police tried to fine me the other day for campaigning,
they banned me from campaigning,
and I'm just trying to talk to normal people.
We just gotta clean this place up.
- You can't win, can you? Can't win, can you?
- He just doesn't, I don't think he likes business,
I don't think he likes the city,
I don't think he likes Londoners, honestly.
So, all right.
What's your name?
- Roy. - Roy? Brian.
- Good luck.
- Nice to meet you, man.
Thank you so much, man.
- No worries.
I better get back to my work!
- Yeah, yeah. (Brian laughs)
- This is my tea break, all right?
Because it's on the telly.