Transport Committee to hold PRIVATE ROUNDTABLE with drivers as taxi licensing inquiry enters next phase
- Perry Richardson
- 15 minutes ago
- 2 min read
The Transport Committee will shift its focus to frontline experiences next week as MPs meet privately with taxi and private hire drivers for the latest stage of the licensing inquiry.
The session takes place on Wednesday 3 December at 9.15am. Unlike earlier hearings involving major operators, licensing bodies and safety organisations, this meeting will be held in private so drivers can speak openly about the pressures they face without commercial or regulatory sensitivities restricting discussion.
The roundtable follows public evidence from Uber, Bolt, Veezu, small operator representatives and safety campaigners in November.
That session explored national standards, cross-border enforcement, data sharing and pricing practices across the private hire sector. MPs are now turning to drivers to understand how those issues play out in daily working conditions.
Committee members are expected to ask drivers about licensing barriers, operational pressures, cross-border challenges, enforcement inconsistencies and income stability. The discussion is likely to cover the impact of long licensing delays in some authorities, variations in compliance expectations, and how operators allocate work to drivers from different regions.
Drivers are also expected to share views on local enforcement capacity, levels of safety support, and whether councils have adequate powers to address out-of-area vehicles working regularly in their districts.
Accessibility, safeguarding and customer safety are also expected to feature in the discussion. Earlier witnesses told the committee that standards remain uneven across local authorities. The private roundtable gives MPs the opportunity to test those claims directly with drivers who have to navigate those differences daily face-to-face with the travelling public.
Although the meeting itself will be private, the evidence gathered will inform the committee’s continuing inquiry and future recommendations to Government.
