Taxi and private hire vehicle licensing - England & Wales - Briefing document

A Parliamentary Briefing paper, released yesterday, sets out the licensing arrangements for taxis and private hire vehicles and their drivers and the enforcement of those licences. It also looks at some of the issues currently of concern to the industry and licensing authorities.

As taxi licensing is devolved in Scotland and Northern Ireland the paper only deals with England and Wales. Once the Wales Bill becomes law, licensing will also be devolved in Wales and this paper will be amended to cover England only.

The present law varies depending where one is. The licensing conditions that are applied to taxis and PHV drivers and the local conditions of vehicle fitness are for each local licensing authority to decide, so can vary considerably from area to area.

The briefing document can be found here: 'Taxi and private hire vehicle licensing in England & Wales'.