Taxi and private hire licensing in the UK is renowned for being complicated. With hundreds of different rule sets across the UK, its no surprise that Autocab’s CEO has branded licensing ‘chaotic’ and ‘outdated’.

Vertical Aerospace’s prototype the VX4 is awaiting the all-clear from the CAA to begin piloted flight tests. This is expected in the next few weeks. With the rapid advance of the eVTOL industry, it seems more and more likely that they will be commercially viable before autonomous cars!

Friday 19th August 2022 saw the 125th anniversary of the first ever electric taxi to ever appear in London. The Bersey Electrical Cab was likely the first motor vehicle for hire ever in the country. Unfortunately, they were too far ahead of their time and doomed to fail.

People have been declaring driverless cars will be taking over the roads any day now, for about a decade. But while they’re still a way off, they’re definitely on their way. What does this mean for the taxi trade?

DfT guidance means that licensing authorities now need to carry out criminality checks on drivers every 6 months. This either involves completing new DBS Checks or managing Update Service subscriptions for all the drivers licensed by your council.

Uber are under fire once again as they deal with a leak of over 100,000 confidential documents and communications. Uber has been accused of wrongdoing before but never has such a comprehensive range of evidence been available. Get what you need to know via the link

Cross-border hiring has been a divisive issue for a number of years. But the Greater Manchester Combined Authority is now lobbying the government to end the practice in the region. If the government concede to their request, it will be the first area in England where the practice is abolished.

The Private Members Bill introduced last year to improve safeguarding and road safety, has now received Royal Assent. This legislation is just the latest in a series of new guidance and regulations focused on the taxi and private hire trade.

Every cabbie has had something left on the back seat by a passenger. Wallets, phones, and ID are all to be expected, but some of the items left on the back of Ubers really stretch the imagination! Have you found anything stranger in the back of your cab?

The iconic green Cabmen Shelters are a unique and historic part of the London landscape. The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport recently added another two shelters to the list of Grade II protected buildings. All 13 of the surviving London Cabmen Shelters are now listed buildings.

Recent reports suggest that with business levels rising across parts of the country, many drivers who left the industry during the pandemic are being lured back. With the promise of a boom in work, are things really as busy as some are saying?

With new rules meaning drivers need to sign up for the Update Service, manual DBS Certificates have been causing problems. These certificates cannot be registered to the Update Service meaning some drivers have been having to pay for multiple DBS Checks, refunds have now been secured thanks to lobbying.

The Taxi Charity recently arranged a trip to the Netherlands for veterans to take part in the Dutch Liberation Day parades. The charity transported 25 WWII veterans to attend the 77th-anniversary festivities in Wageningen.

A new report has caused controversy in the taxi trade after suggesting that the Knowledge of London test should be scrapped. Many are calling into question the motives behind the think tank that have published the recommendations.

Two Chinese firms have been granted permission to operate taxi services using autonomous cars in Beijing. Pony.ai is the first autonomous taxi service provider to have been granted a taxi licence in China. Since April 22 they have already completed over 700,000 journeys.

Card payments are already mandated by several UK licensing authorities. The pandemic has only accelerated the industries acceptance of card payments. But should they be mandated at a national level?

Uber announced this week the appointment of a new General Manager for the UK. The new manager is joining at a pivotal time with a new licence granted by TfL and their Local Cab offering growing by the week.

Research carried out by The Taxi Centre has found the best and worst places in the UK for traveling by taxi. They’ve determined this by working out how many taxi and PH services are available per head of population. There are definitely a few surprises in there but does your area make the list?

Is the game really dead? If you spend a lot of time on Twitter, you’ll be no stranger to the numerous comments claiming just that. With driver shortages and fewer drivers coming through how much truth is there to this claim?