Perry Richardson

Making Tax Digital for Income Tax (MTD IT) is now a reality for many taxi and private hire drivers, but plenty of myths and misunderstandings still surround HMRC’s changes.Since April 2026, MTD IT has applied to self-employed people and those with property rental income earning more than £50,000 a year. The threshold will reduce to £30,000 from April 2027 and £20,000 from April 2028, meaning many more drivers will be affected over the next two years.The good news is that MTD IT is often much sim

For an industry built on moving people from A to B, Britain’s taxi and private hire sector spends an extraordinary amount of time fighting over regulation. Hardly a month passes without another licensing committee meeting, court judgment or government consultation reigniting long-running disputes that have divided drivers, operators, regulators and campaign groups for years.What makes today’s environment different is the sheer number of unresolved issues colliding at once. The industry is not ju

Thames Valley Police has launched an appeal for witnesses following an alleged assault and criminal damage incident in Oxford that left a taxi driver injured and his vehicle badly damaged.The incident happened at around 12.35pm on Friday 3 July 2026 after the taxi driver had dropped off a passenger and was travelling along Banbury Road. According to police, the driver encountered two cyclists riding side-by-side in the bus lane before overtaking them.When the driver stopped at traffic lights nea

London’s licensed taxi drivers using Heathrow Airport will see significant changes to the operation of the airport’s Taxi Feeder Park later this month as Heathrow begins the transition to a new Taxi Feeder Management System (TFMS).The temporary arrangements will begin at 11pm on Tuesday 21 July and remain in place until 12.01am on Friday 31 July while Heathrow switches from the existing Taxi Expert system to the new platform. During this period, the feeder park will operate manually, with airpor

Conwy County Borough Council’s General Licensing Committee is due to consider a revised Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) and Criminal Convictions Policy that would strengthen safeguarding requirements for hackney carriage and private hire drivers across the county. The proposals will be discussed at the committee meeting on 20 July, with members being asked to adopt a series of amendments aimed at improving public protection.The report states that the revised policy is intended to provide cl

For many Uber passengers, a poor rating can come as a surprise. Most riders assume that simply getting from A to B without incident guarantees a five-star review. However, a recent discussion among Uber drivers on Reddit has shed light on the behaviours that commonly result in the platform’s lowest possible passenger rating.The conversation began when a newly-qualified Uber driver asked fellow drivers when they considered it appropriate to issue a one-star rating rather than the default five sta

Taxi drivers are increasingly being exposed to a “lottery” in the justice system where similar motoring offences can attract dramatically different penalties depending on which court hears the case, according to Licensed Taxi Drivers’ Association (LTDA) General Secretary Steve McNamara.Writing in the latest edition of TAXI, the LTDA’s magazine, McNamara argues that while Transport for London (TfL) successfully abandoned its former policy of automatically reviewing drivers who accumulated three p

A hackney carriage driver licensed by Cheltenham Borough Council has lost an appeal against the revocation of their taxi licence after Cheltenham Magistrates’ Court upheld the council’s decision on 6 July 2026.The driver was referred to the council’s licensing sub-committee after receiving three strikes within a 12-month period under Cheltenham Borough Council’s taxi and private hire licensing policy. Following a hearing in November 2025, councillors unanimously decided to revoke the driver’s li

Torbay Council has launched a public consultation aimed at improving the accessibility of local taxi and private hire services, with the findings set to influence both a new Inclusive Service Plan (ISP) and an ongoing review of whether the Bay has enough licensed hackney carriages.The survey, commissioned by the council’s Taxi Licensing Department, seeks feedback from residents about how accessible taxi services currently meet the needs of disabled passengers and those with additional access req

The Government has acknowledged the importance of providing clean and safe toilet facilities following a parliamentary question on the availability of waiting areas and toilets for licensed taxi and private hire drivers. However, ministers stopped short of announcing any new measures specifically aimed at improving facilities for the trade.In a written parliamentary answer, Independent MP for Leicester South, Shockat Adam, asked the Secretary of State for Transport what steps the Department was