THE FULL PICTURE: Cross border taxi licensing, end of the road ahead and what comes next?

For years, taxi and private hire vehicle (PHV) drivers in England have been able to take advantage of cross border licensing rules – a legal loophole allowing them to be licensed in one local authority but operate predominantly in another. In practice, this means a driver might obtain a PHV licence from an area with cheaper fees or looser requirements, then work almost entirely in a different city. The result is a patchwork of inconsistent standards and enforcement: some councils set rigorous safety checks and training, only to find their efforts undermined when drivers licensed elsewhere flood their streets. This disparity has led to what many describe as a regulatory “race to the bottom”, where drivers gravitate to whichever authority has the least stringent rules, potentially compromising passenger safety and undercutting locally licensed drivers.

Local taxi drivers often complain of being under-priced by out-of-area competitors who don’t follow the same rules, and councils are frustrated that they have no jurisdiction over those “out-of-town” cabs operating on their turf.

In this Premium article we cover in huge detail the impact of the Casey Report, what changes are likely, impact on the industry so far, how will operators like Uber be affected, and how this could be a turning point for the trade as a whole.

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