Taxi and private hire licensing in London

What does the licensed trade in London actually look like?

London licenses 107,378 vehicles as at 1 April 2024 — 14,800 hackney carriages and 92,578 private hire vehicles.

Private hire clearly leads the licensed fleet, so most work arrives pre-booked through a phone line, an app or a web form before any driver moves.

At this scale the operation is a logistics business. No controller can hold the board in their head, so allocation has to be automatic by default and the exceptions are what people actually work on.

123,636 driver licences are in force against those 107,378 vehicles, or 1.15 drivers per vehicle. Some vehicles run more than one driver, so shift patterns bear on availability as much as the plate count does.

Is London over- or under-supplied with licensed vehicles?

London licenses 12.11 taxis and private hire vehicles per 1,000 residents, against a median of 2.62 across the 292 authorities in the same return — 362 per cent above the national midpoint.

Licensed supply sits far above the national midpoint. In a market this saturated the winning operator is rarely the one with the most cars; it is the one whose quoted arrival time is the time that actually happens.

What booking records does London require an operator to keep?

London requires a licensed private hire operator to record 8 of the 12 booking details the DfT surveys: passenger name, date the booking was made, pick-up time, pick-up date, pick-up point, main destination, driver name and vehicle registration.

That is a middling regime — some fields are mandatory, the rest are left to the operator's judgement.

Not required here: time the booking was made, driver licence number, name of the booker and dispatcher name.

Which vehicle standards apply in London?

On vehicles, hackney carriages are held to both age and emissions standard and private hire vehicles to both age and emissions standard.

London does not cap hackney carriage licence numbers, so the fleet can grow with demand. What limits growth is the cost of meeting the standards, not waiting for a plate to come free.

In-vehicle CCTV is permitted but not required here, so it stays an operator decision rather than a licence condition.

What does it take to licence a new driver in London?

Before a new driver in London can be sent a job, background screening is enhanced dbs and barred list checks, a topographical or navigational assessment must be passed and safeguarding training covering child sexual exploitation and county lines is required.

How much accessible capacity does London have?

14.2 per cent of the licensed fleet in London is wheelchair accessible — 14,800 hackney carriages and 405 private hire vehicles.

That is a thin accessible share, so accessible bookings need planning rather than absorbing, and one vehicle off the road materially cuts capacity.

London publishes a list of designated wheelchair-accessible vehicles, which brings its drivers within section 165 of the Equality Act 2010.

Where does London differ from the typical licensing authority?

London departs from the majority answer on 8 of the surveyed licensing policies.

Requires daily hackney roadworthiness checks: "No" here, against "Yes" for 51 per cent of authorities.

Hackney topographical assessment: "Both" here, against "Topological" for 65 per cent of authorities.

PHV topographical assessment: "Navigational" here, against "Topological" for 52 per cent of authorities.

Hackney English-standard requirement: "No" here, against "Both" for 50 per cent of authorities.

Hackney safeguarding training: "No safeguarding" here, against "Both" for 72 per cent of authorities.

PHV safeguarding training: "No safeguarding" here, against "Both" for 72 per cent of authorities.

Is London active on operator licence enforcement?

Yes. In the reporting year London refused 0 operator licence applications, suspended 0 and revoked 18.