Autocab CEO: “UK taxi licensing regulation is a chaotic, outdated system...”

The taxi and private hire industry is a vitally important transport service. Taxi services are used disproportionately by vulnerable individuals, such as the elderly or disabled.  

Being such an essential service for these groups, it's easy to assume that taxi licensing would be straightforward. But as anyone in the industry knows, that isn’t the case. 

Currently, there are around 280 different rule sets for taxi and private hire licensing, depending on which licensing authority a driver is licensed by.  

Licensing conditions can vary wildly on things like topographical knowledge tests, language tests, vehicle livery and more.  

Speaking to the Express, Safa Alkateb, CEO at Autocab, said: 

“UK taxi licensing regulation is a chaotic, outdated system, and it’s in need of an overhaul.“ 

“There are about 326 local authorities across the country, and they each have their own distinct rules, processes and fees for new drivers who want a taxi licence. 

That ends up with new drivers having different levels of checks and testing that depend on the region they’re in.  

“Those can include geography tests, medical evaluation, DBS checks, language tests and so on.  

“On average, the process of obtaining a license takes 14 weeks, but can often take longer.“ 

To pick up jobs in more than one region, both operators and drivers will need to have more than one licence, which means they have to go through the whole process multiple times. 

This is when the trivial differences between jurisdictions creates additional obstacles.  

“Some regions have different rules over such things as the colour of the car, whether they can have tinted windows, etc.  

“This can create hefty upfront costs which can act as a barrier to new entrants to the industry, making it a lot harder for local operators to recruit.  

“All this now means that we have a minefield of disjointed rules and regulations for drivers and taxi firms.  

“It’s a nightmare for new drivers to get out on the road and an endless headache for operators.” 

This last point is exemplified by recent problems in Tendring licensing authority. Overly complicated topographical knowledge tests have led to their only being one operational taxi firm in the Harwich area. 

Current rules mean that drivers in Harwich need to have a comprehensive knowledge of the entire Tendring area, even though they are only servicing one area within the authority. Many drivers have been failing the test, which has led to the shortage. 

Unfortunately, stories like this aren’t uncommon in the industry. 

With the introduction of the Statutory Taxi and Private Hire Vehicle Standards back in 2020, the differences in licensing rules are slowly getting smaller.  

But many changes to licensing regimes need to go through review and consultations and committees before they can be introduced, which is slowing things down.  

These problems are part of the reasons many in the industry are lobbying government for the introduction of national minimum standards for licensing.  

Having the same set of rules and regulations across all licensing authorities in the UK would not only make it easier for drivers, but it would also make it easier for licensing authorities.  

But it looks like it’s going to be many years before we get anywhere close to national minimum standards.