Open petition: Government to place limit on taxi licences and out-of-area use

Created by Alison Kew
Closes on 29 July 2026

We call on the Government to reform private hire licensing law by changing provisions that allow councils to issue unlimited out-of-area licences, introducing national limits and local connection requirements, and ensuring licensing reflects genuine local oversight rather than regulatory arbitrage.

The current system allows councils to issue vast numbers of private hire licences to drivers who work almost entirely elsewhere. We believe this undermines local regulation and enforcement, creates unfair competition between drivers, weakens public confidence in licensing standards, and turns local authorities into de facto national licensing bodies without accountability. National reform is needed to restore fairness, consistency, and effective oversight.

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