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Taxi and private hire CRACKDOWN at East Midlands Airport finds 45 faults as 209 vehicles face multi-agency cross border checks
A major taxi and private hire compliance operation at East Midlands Airport found defects or regulatory issues on 35 of the 209 vehicles inspected, according to North East Derbyshire District Council.
The enforcement exercise took place on 24 September 2026 and brought together 19 licensing authorities alongside the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA), Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA), HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), Leicestershire Police, Uber UK, East Midlands Airport and insurance fraud specialists.
A total of 45 faults were identified during the checks. North East Derbyshire District Council said officers encountered safety problems including defective tyres, dangerous collision damage, inoperative seatbelts, missing wheel nuts, defective lighting and loose bodywork.
Vehicles displaying illegal “ghost” registration plates were also identified, while licensing officers recorded compliance breaches involving vehicle identification, driver badges and required safety equipment.
Several vehicles were prohibited from continuing to operate until identified defects had been rectified, the council said. It did not provide a breakdown showing how many of the 35 affected vehicles were subject to prohibitions or how individual faults were divided between mechanical defects and licensing breaches.
The figures mean around 16.7% of the vehicles inspected were found to have at least one defect or compliance issue. With 45 faults recorded across 35 affected vehicles, some vehicles had more than one problem.
The operation also demonstrated the cross-border nature of private hire work around major UK airports. Officers encountered vehicles licensed as far away as Wrexham, Cardiff, Hull and Milton Keynes.
That geographical spread is controversially normal for licensing authorities because private hire vehicles can undertake pre-booked work outside the area in which they are licensed, creating enforcement challenges when vehicles and drivers regularly operate hundreds of miles from their licensing authority.
North East Derbyshire District Council said all vehicles and drivers licensed by the authority that were inspected during the operation were found to be fully compliant.
The council described the operation as “highly productive”, saying it had identified safety and compliance issues while creating opportunities for licensing authorities and other agencies to work together and share intelligence.
