New DfT data reveals CROSS-BORDER taxi licensing hotspots with Wolverhampton fleet nearing 38,000 vehicles

Wolverhampton licensed almost 38,000 private hire vehicles in 2026, giving the city a PHV density more than 27 times the English average and making it the country’s most prominent potential hotspot for cross-border licensing.

The latest Department for Transport statistics show Wolverhampton City Council had 37,967 licensed PHVs on 1 April 2026. That equates to 135 PHVs for every 1,000 residents, compared with an English average of 4.9.

Wolverhampton’s licensed PHV fleet increased by 8,794 vehicles from 29,173 in 2024, a rise of 30%. The authority now licenses approximately one in every eight PHVs in England, despite accounting for less than 0.5% of the country’s population.

The figures do not record where individual vehicles carry out their work. Licence density therefore cannot prove that a vehicle is operating outside its licensing area. However, concentrations far beyond what might reasonably be expected from local population and demand provide a strong statistical indicator of authorities attracting applications from drivers intending to work elsewhere.

What is cross-border private hire working?

Cross-border working generally describes a driver and vehicle licensed by one authority carrying out a substantial part of their work in another authority’s area.

A PHV journey must be booked in advance through a licensed private hire operator. The driver, vehicle and operator must ordinarily be licensed by the same authority, an arrangement known as the “triple licensing lock”.

Once those requirements are met, the journey can take place anywhere in England and Wales. A vehicle can legitimately take a passenger outside its home district, wait for another booking and undertake work in another licensing area.

This flexibility is necessary for airport transfers, long-distance bookings and journeys that naturally cross council boundaries. The Government has said there is nothing inherently unsafe about a PHV completing an out-of-area booking.

The controversy arises when a driver obtains a licence from a distant authority and then works predominantly, or even exclusively, in another area. That practice is commonly described as out-of-area working or licensing shopping.

Technology has made the model easier to sustain. App-based operators can allocate pre-booked journeys across large geographical areas, reducing the importance of the traditional relationship between a PHV operator, its drivers and the council area issuing their licences.

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Wolverhampton remains in a category of its own

No other licensing authority approaches Wolverhampton’s PHV concentration. Its total of 37,967 vehicles was larger than the combined PHV fleets of many major English cities and metropolitan districts.

The city recorded 135 PHVs per 1,000 residents. For its fleet to reflect the English average, Wolverhampton would have approximately 1,391 PHVs rather than almost 38,000.

The authority’s scale means its plates are now routinely seen in areas far beyond the West Midlands. Councils and political leaders in Greater Manchester, London and other urban areas have repeatedly raised concerns about vehicles licensed by distant authorities operating within their boundaries.

Wolverhampton has developed a large licensing operation capable of processing applications from across the country. The authority remains legally responsible for deciding whether its licensed drivers are fit and proper, whether vehicles meet its standards and whether enforcement or disciplinary action is required.

Knowsley fleet more than doubles

Knowsley had the second-highest PHV density in England, with 4,917 vehicles serving a population of approximately 162,600. That produced a rate of 30.2 PHVs per 1,000 residents, more than six times the English average.

Its licensed fleet increased from 2,090 vehicles in 2024, a rise of 2,827 or 135% in two years. The scale of the increase suggests Knowsley has rapidly become a significant centre for PHV licensing within the Liverpool City Region and potentially beyond it.

Neighbouring Sefton remained another major hotspot. It licensed 5,724 PHVs, up from 4,996 in 2024. Its density reached 20 vehicles per 1,000 residents, around four times the English average.

Sefton plates have become a recurring feature of the cross-border licensing debate in Greater Manchester and other parts of the North West. However, the DfT dataset cannot distinguish between vehicles working locally, across the wider Liverpool City Region or predominantly in more distant markets.

East Cambridgeshire records exceptional increase

East Cambridgeshire recorded the most dramatic percentage increase among the leading licensing hotspots.

The authority’s PHV fleet rose from 163 vehicles in 2024 to 2,785 in 2026, an increase of 2,622 vehicles or more than 1,600%. With a population of approximately 92,900, its licence density reached 30 PHVs per 1,000 residents.

That placed East Cambridgeshire narrowly behind Knowsley and far above much larger neighbouring authorities. The sudden change warrants further examination because the statistics alone do not explain whether the increase resulted from new operators, application-processing arrangements, changes in local licensing policy or drivers moving licences from other councils.

South Cambridgeshire also appeared among the leading areas, with 2,251 PHVs and a rate of 13 per 1,000 residents. Its fleet grew by 750 vehicles, or 50%, from 2024.

Together, East Cambridgeshire and South Cambridgeshire licensed more than 5,000 PHVs. Their combined growth indicates that Cambridgeshire has become an increasingly important part of the national PHV licensing market.

Airport areas and metropolitan demand complicate the picture

Uttlesford had 1,495 licensed PHVs, equivalent to 15.7 vehicles per 1,000 residents. Its position includes the influence of London Stansted Airport, which creates private hire demand considerably beyond that suggested by the district’s resident population.

Epsom and Ewell recorded 1,084 PHVs and a density of 13 per 1,000 residents, while Reigate and Banstead had 1,387 vehicles and a rate of 8.7. Airport, business and London-related travel may contribute to higher demand in parts of the South East.

Newcastle upon Tyne licensed 5,738 PHVs, giving it a rate of 17.9 per 1,000 residents. Its fleet increased by 1,530 vehicles, or 36%, from 2024.

Newcastle is a major regional employment, university and night-time economy centre, meaning its PHV demand cannot be assessed solely against its resident population. Even so, its licence density was more than three-and-a-half times the English average and substantially higher than surrounding North East authorities.

Solihull presents a similar complication. It licensed 3,318 PHVs, equivalent to 15 per 1,000 residents, after its fleet grew by 54% from 2024. The authority contains Birmingham Airport and the National Exhibition Centre and sits within a large interconnected urban market.

These local factors mean that not every authority with high PHV density should automatically be labelled a licensing-shopping centre. The figures identify areas where further operational data would be needed to determine where licensed vehicles are actually working.

Northern authorities record strong growth

Bradford had 6,698 licensed PHVs, the largest total outside Wolverhampton among the leading hotspots. Its density reached 11.9 per 1,000 residents after the fleet increased by 1,737 vehicles, or 35%, in two years.

Oldham licensed 2,800 PHVs, more than double its 2024 total of 1,311. Its density rose to 11.1 per 1,000 residents.

Rochdale reached 2,012 PHVs and 8.5 per 1,000 residents after adding 449 vehicles. Pendle had 975 PHVs and a rate of 9.8, while Middlesbrough recorded 1,284 and a rate of 8.2.

Liverpool had a larger mixed licensed fleet than many authorities, including 2,736 PHVs and 1,316 taxis. Its PHV density of 5.4 per 1,000 residents was only moderately above the English average, demonstrating why total licence numbers alone can give a misleading picture when identifying possible cross-border centres.

Further hotspots emerge across England

South Gloucestershire licensed 3,487 PHVs, equivalent to 11.4 per 1,000 residents. That level is more than twice the national average and is notable given its proximity to Bristol.

Castle Point had 997 PHVs and a density of 11 per 1,000 residents. Hertsmere’s fleet increased from 224 to 865 vehicles, a rise of 286%, taking its density to 7.8.

Ashfield recorded 1,042 PHVs, or eight per 1,000 residents. Its overall licensed vehicle density was higher at 11.7 because it also had 480 taxis.

Nottingham increased its PHV fleet by 67% to 2,156, while Stoke-on-Trent reached 1,942 following a 36% rise. Portsmouth had 1,429 PHVs, Oxford licensed 1,137 and Chesterfield recorded 682. Each had a PHV density above six per 1,000 residents.

In Wales, which operates under a separate devolved policy framework, Newport recorded the highest PHV density in the DfT table at 9.5 per 1,000 residents, based on 1,587 vehicles.

Why cross-border licensing is being challenged

The central concern is that the council responsible for an area may have limited control over many of the PHVs working within it.

Licensing requirements differ between authorities. Councils can set their own policies covering vehicle age, emissions, driver training, medical assessments, local knowledge, safeguarding requirements, disability awareness and frequency of vehicle testing, subject to national legislation and statutory standards.

A driver may therefore be licensed under requirements different from those imposed on locally licensed drivers working in the same market. Critics argue that this creates an incentive to apply to authorities offering lower fees, faster processing, older vehicle limits or less demanding licensing conditions.

Local drivers and operators also argue that this can create unequal competition. A council may require its own trade to invest in cleaner vehicles, additional training or more frequent inspections while drivers licensed elsewhere can work in the area without meeting precisely the same local conditions.

Enforcement is another major issue. Officers encountering an out-of-area vehicle can inspect it and share information, but significant licensing decisions normally rest with the authority that issued the licence. Complaints, intelligence and evidence may consequently have to be transferred to a council located hundreds of miles away.

The arrangement can also be confusing for passengers. A journey booked and completed in one city may involve a vehicle, driver and operator regulated by a council in another part of the country. A passenger wishing to report conduct may not immediately know which authority is responsible.

Councils say the mismatch makes it harder to target enforcement resources, monitor local fleets and deliver policies on safety, accessibility, congestion and emissions.

Government proposes reducing licensing authorities

The Government opened a consultation in January 2026 on transferring taxi and PHV licensing responsibility to England’s local transport authorities. The proposal would reduce the number of licensing bodies from 263 to approximately 70 and create larger licensing areas more closely aligned with travel-to-work patterns and regional transport planning.

Ministers said larger licensing areas could produce more in-area working, improve the relationship between compliance costs and enforcement resources and allow PHVs to be considered alongside wider transport, emissions and infrastructure policies.

The House of Commons Transport Committee has also called for comprehensive reform of the legal framework. Its June 2026 report said the Government had announced plans for a draft Taxi and Private Hire Bill intended to modernise the system.

Reducing the number of licensing authorities would narrow some boundaries but would not, by itself, establish a rule requiring a driver to be licensed where most work takes place. Further legislation would be needed if ministers intended to restrict predominantly out-of-area working.

The challenge for policymakers is to prevent systematic licensing shopping without obstructing legitimate cross-boundary journeys. Airport transfers, contract work, return bookings and journeys across neighbouring districts depend on vehicles being able to operate beyond their home authority.

Until operational data is linked to licensing records, vehicle density remains an indicator rather than proof. However, the scale of the disparities revealed by the DfT figures will increase pressure for a system in which the authority setting local transport policy has greater control over the vehicles routinely operating on its roads.