Wolverhampton Council calls for national taxi licensing overhaul to better manage cross-border hiring
- Perry Richardson
- Sep 19
- 3 min read
City of Wolverhampton Council has urged the Government to deliver a uniform taxi and private hire licensing regime across England, arguing current laws restrict councils from refusing applicants who live elsewhere and limit proactive enforcement.
The council’s written evidence to MPs outlines a package of reforms aimed at raising safety, improving consistency and reducing licence shopping.
Wolverhampton’s online application system, launched in 2016, has led to more than 50,000 private hire drivers being licensed by the authority, with 96% living outside the city. Officers cannot reject applications based solely on residency under current legislation.
The council backs national, not minimum, standards covering applications, processing, checks and enforcement. It highlights same-day automated DBS conviction alerts via the Multiple Status Checking Facility as a model requirement nationwide, and calls for free DVLA motoring conviction checks for licensing bodies.
Enforcement powers are a central theme. Wolverhampton wants compliance officers to be able to stop taxis and PHVs, issue PCNs for private hire vehicles using taxi ranks, and issue FPNs for offences such as breaching licence conditions or using a mobile phone while driving. The authority says reliance on police support pushes up costs and reduces efficiency.
A publicly accessible national register of all licensed drivers, vehicles and operators, updated daily by every authority, is proposed to aid transparency and enforcement. The council also urges a standard national format for plates and badges to help passengers identify licensed services.
On cross-border licensing, Wolverhampton argues uniform national conditions would reduce incentives to apply away from home areas. It supports giving courts the power to revoke or suspend taxi licences at sentencing and letting licensing officers impose interim suspensions while serious police investigations are ongoing. A duty on arrested licensees to declare their status, and on police to consider bail conditions restricting licensed work, is also suggested.
The council raises concerns about the National Anti-Fraud Network’s NR3S data retention period, cut from 25 to 11 years, saying it weakens safeguards and should be extended to 99 years. It also notes some authorities may not have backdated decisions to the register, risking gaps in records.
To streamline operator licensing, Wolverhampton proposes removing the triple lock so any operator could accept bookings for any licensed vehicle driven by any licensed driver. It says large operators currently holding dozens or even hundreds of licences face duplicated costs without safety benefit.
Accessibility features in the submission. The council wants hackney carriage licences issued only to wheelchair accessible vehicles, arguing this is the only effective way to guarantee availability for wheelchair users. It also calls for consistent treatment of under-threes counting toward passenger capacity.
Further measures include making taxi and PHV driving a regulated activity under the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006, mandating tamper-proof CCTV if required by Government with national support for costs, standardising English and training requirements, and fitting digital tachographs to monitor driver hours.
The council says digital ride-hailing platforms have improved traceability through journey records and GPS, helping investigations. On complaints, it points to the operator as the first contact and notes vehicles licensed by Wolverhampton already display complaint stickers, a practice it wants standardised.
Looking ahead, the submission warns autonomous vehicles could significantly reduce driver numbers and raises risks around criminal misuse. It argues regionalising enforcement teams and enabling ministers to set and update national licence conditions would support consistent delivery.
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