Urgent Letter from Len Maloney to Sadiq Khan!  

Transport for London has told Len from JC Motors in Hackney that he must make the decision by this Friday 9th June to leave his arch for good or face bankruptcy.

{CLICK HERE} to add your name as a signatory to his letter to the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan calling for a meeting. With your help gathering enough signatories, we hope the Mayor of London will intervene to find a sustainable solution to keep Len in his arch in Hackney. The people have the power! #StandWithLen

UPDATE 10th JUNE: The momentum you are building with Len is working and drawing media attention. Len was on ITV News yesterday! You can watch the video here. 

We have over 2,000 signatories can you help us get to 3,000 by names by Monday? Londoners are Sadiq Khan’s constituents, he has to listen to you. Let’s demonstrate just how many Londoners stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Len. Please share this link: bit.ly/standwithlen 

Dear Sadiq Khan,

My Name is Len Maloney, I run a motor repair specialist called JC Motors in Hackney. I am a long-term and active member of the East End Trades Guild. We spoke just before the pandemic in Battersea at the People’s Question time in 2020 where you agreed that the issue of affordable rent is one of the biggest issues facing small businesses in London. 

I remember that day and the feeling of hope that I had from your response so I am called to write to you now to ask for your support.  TfL is demanding that I pay £70,000 in rent arrears because they tripled my rent in 2018. If I do not pay this amount in total, TfL expects me to vacate my arch and leave Hackney.

I have been providing work opportunities and apprenticeships to young people from black and ethnic minority backgrounds since 2006. Often these young people were losing their way before they found my business,  they were misunderstood at school and needed a mentor to support them.

It was the same for me before I wandered into JC Motors in the late 90s. Then run by Mr Chee, after learning my trade from him, my mentor eventually helped me to take over the business and develop the tradition of supporting young marginalised people into jobs that they desperately need.

As well as supporting young people and locals through my business, together with other Guild members, I played an important role in establishing Guardians of the Arches and I am currently active within the Guild’s Cultural Group. This is an internal group of the EETG run by and for black and ethnic minority-owned businesses and social enterprises. I support others to gain access to spaces in London such as our monthly market on Mare Street on the first Sunday of each month. 

It is my dream to continue to use the arch on Stean Street for the benefit of local young people and my community in Hackney. My garage has thousands of customers old and young. I keep their cars running efficiently for longer, helping to keep down emissions and the need to buy new cars. During the pandemic, as an essential service, I kept the doctor’s and nurses vehicles running. The importance of my socially and environmentally useful service is often overlooked by TfL who seem to want to make a profit at any cost. 

Tragically in 2017, that cost was the human life of my neighbour Richard Hassan who shot himself aged 68 in part due to the huge rental increase demanded by TfL from £36,000 to 72,000. I was expected to go from £22,000 to £72,000. We were both asked to pay up or move out. Journalist Hazel Sheffield made a film about the situation together with the Guild. 

I rallied my community and set up a petition to save my business calling on TfL to create affordable rents. Seven years later there is still no affordable rent policy in place from TfL and we are right back where we started. 

My counter-proposal is based on the reality of my business and what I can actually afford. TfL has told me mine is the only garage with arrears and that they cannot treat people differently from each other. I have spoken to the only TfL Garage now left in Haggerston. M Brothers is a family-run mechanic. Sadly, the Father of the family died during the pandemic and the two sons have taken over the business so they can look after their disabled windowed Mother. 

TfL also threatened M Brothers with legal action after they could not afford the rent increase. So without any money in the bank, their Mother who has had four hip replacements and who is on disability benefits took out a loan in her name to pay off the arrears. The way people in Hackney are suffering is wrong. All of my neighbours say they are struggling to pay the rent that TfL is asking for now. How can TfL justify its policy to maximise profits at the cost of damaging small businesses, their families and their communities?

As Mayor of London, myself and all the people who will sign this letter in the coming days and weeks ask that you meet with me and representatives of the East End Trades Guild to solve this problem once and for all. 

We look forward to hearing from you,

Len Maloney JC Motors LDM, EETG