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Buckinghamshire taxi enforcement sees 22 driver licences revoked as council records 184 complaints
Buckinghamshire Council has reported a 22% rise in taxi and private hire driver licence revocations, with 22 licences removed between October 2025 and March 2026.
The figures form part of the authority’s latest Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Licensing Enforcement Update, presented to its Licensing (Public Protection) Committee on 11 August. The report covers licensing and enforcement activity between 1 October 2025 and 31 March 2026.
Revocation is the most serious licensing sanction available to the authority and is reserved for cases where the council considers that allowing a licence to remain in force would compromise public safety.
According to the council, reasons behind the 22 driver revocations included motoring convictions and disqualifications, taxi licensing offences such as plying for hire, poor driving standards, road traffic collisions, dishonesty and safeguarding concerns. Cases also involved allegations or convictions relating to serious offences.
Despite the increase, the authority stressed that revoked licences represented approximately 0.7% of Buckinghamshire’s licensed trade.
The figures sit within a wider programme of enforcement activity. During the six-month period, licensing officers issued 122 penalty point notices and 123 warning letters, while 67 driver licences were suspended.
Buckinghamshire Council said the “vast majority” of suspensions were linked to medical issues rather than driver conduct. This can include circumstances where a change in a driver’s health means they temporarily fail to meet the required Group 2 medical standards.
The authority operates a graduated enforcement framework. Warning letters are used for lower-level non-compliance, while penalty points record more significant breaches. Suspensions can temporarily remove drivers from licensed work where concerns are considered serious enough to require action in the interests of public safety.
Complaints also generated a substantial enforcement workload from the council. A total of 184 complaints were recorded during the reporting period, with complainants able to select more than one category when raising concerns. Driver behaviour and conduct remained the largest complaint category.
The chart contained within the council report records 153 selections covering behaviour, criminal behaviour, rude or aggressive conduct and inappropriate behaviour. Driving standards, including speeding and erratic driving, were selected 114 times, while vehicle condition concerns were recorded 90 times.
Parking-related issues were selected 69 times, safeguarding 20 times and overcharging or meter disputes 17 times. Seven selections concerned mobile phone use and one related to discrimination. Because individual complaints can fall into multiple categories, those figures should not be treated as the number of separate complaints in each category.
Of the 184 complaints, 55 were closed without further investigation. Reasons included insufficient information, an inability to obtain further details from the complainant or matters falling outside the licensing authority’s powers where no public safety concern was identified.
The remaining complaints resulted in 129 investigations. Depending on the circumstances, licensing action ranged from advice and written warnings through to suspensions, revocations or refusal of licence renewal. The authority said decisions take account of the seriousness of an issue, a driver’s licensing history and whether licence conditions or policy requirements have been breached.
Enforcement was not confined to just complaints. Buckinghamshire officers carried out proactive operations at schools and worked alongside Thames Valley Police, including neighbourhood and roads policing teams, to inspect licensed taxis and PHVs and check compliance with licensing and road traffic requirements.
A further joint operation involving Thames Valley Police, the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency and the Network Safety Team included spot checks on licensed vehicles, driver eyesight standards and wider road safety compliance.
Cross-border working also featured prominently. For the first time, Buckinghamshire carried out a joint enforcement operation with Bedford Borough Council, monitoring Buckinghamshire-licensed vehicles operating in the Bedford area and following up identified concerns.
Officers also worked with Transport for London across High Wycombe, Marlow, Amersham and Beaconsfield following complaints about vehicles licensed outside Buckinghamshire. Those operations examined compliance with relevant licensing requirements, with identified issues either dealt with through enforcement action or referred to the authority responsible for the licence.
The enforcement figures come as Buckinghamshire’s licensed fleet contracts slightly. The authority recorded 3,427 licensed drivers, down 1.8% compared with the equivalent period a year earlier, while licensed vehicle numbers fell 4.1% to 2,450. In contrast, the number of licensed operators rose 5.2% to 221.
Driver licensing decisions themselves also show the level of scrutiny being applied. Buckinghamshire granted 569 driver licence applications from 690 applications during the six months, equivalent to 82.5%. Some 57% of driver applications had to be referred to an enforcement officer because of potential non-compliance with policy requirements.
Twenty-three driver applications were refused, down from 32 during the corresponding period a year earlier. The main refusal themes included serious motoring offences such as using a mobile phone while driving, driving without insurance, speeding, totting-up disqualifications and driving without due care and attention.
The council also identified dishonesty and non-disclosure as a repeated concern. Cases included applicants failing to declare convictions, previous licensing refusals, warnings, licensing history, medical changes or police investigations. Other refusals involved violent offences, drug-related offending, alleged inappropriate conduct and wider public safety concerns.
The authority’s enforcement approach is likely to take on additional significance from 1 September, when Buckinghamshire’s revised Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Licensing Policy is scheduled to come into force.
The policy is currently subject to a judicial review claim, which the council is defending. At the date of the enforcement report, no court determination had been made and implementation remained scheduled for September.
Future enforcement reports are expected to monitor the effect of the revised policy, including its impact on compliance activity, service delivery and licensing performance data.
