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Crossing Divides is about bringing people together – today we meet two men who share a trade – taxi driving - but every day they’re behind the wheel on the same streets the distance between them gets bigger.

There's tension on the ranks. Faisal is a driver of an iconic black cab in Coventry, the city that gave birth to what is now often called the London Cab. Barry, an Uber driver who has been working in the city for two years. But this isn’t just a Coventry story - There’s tension on the ranks and on the streets of cities and towns up and down the country. What happens when the two meet and talk face to face?

Why does this divide exist? – it comes down to one word. Deregulation.
Deregulation allows Private hire drivers like Barry from firms like Uber to get a taxi license in one city and then turn up in almost any town in the country and pick up business that was traditionally serviced by locally licensed black cab drivers. Barry does just that – he got his license in Bimingham and now travels 35 miles every day from his home in Evesham to Coventry.

Faisal is a black cab driver working in Coventry for 25 years.. he’s invested over £150,000 in cabs but in the last two years he’s seen a huge change.
Priced out by the new arrivals and fighting for their survival how does Faisal feel about meeting the man who is literally driving him out of business?
We arranged for them to meet in a café in Coventry
This is Crossing Divides – Faisal and Barrys story.

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