Perry Richardson

City of Wolverhampton Council licensing officers carried out joint compliance operations across the North West over the Bank Holiday weekend, working with police at several major taxi and private hire locations.The council’s Northern Compliance Team operated alongside Greater Manchester Police at Manchester Airport, Cheshire Police in Chester and Merseyside Police in Liverpool.Wolverhampton Public Protection said the partnership activity recorded “high levels of compliance across all locations”.

Private hire operators will face a clearer legal responsibility to prevent illegal working when changes to the Government’s Right to Work Scheme take effect on 1 October 2026.The Home Office confirmed the position in response to a question from Shivani Raja, Conservative MP for Leicester East. Raja asked the department to explain the evidential basis for requiring private hire operators to conduct right to work checks on drivers.Jo White, Home Office Minister, said the changes would apply to org

The Government has said the “overall uptake of automated vehicles is highly uncertain” and has declined to forecast what proportion of vehicle miles will be automated by 2035.The assessment was given by Transport Minister Justin Madders in response to a written parliamentary question from Alex Mayer, Labour MP for Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard.Mayer asked the Secretary of State for Transport what estimate had been made of the proportion of vehicle miles expected to be autonomous by 2035. The re

Bournemouth East MP Tom Hayes has asked local taxi and private hire drivers to feed directly into his parliamentary work as the Government prepares a major overhaul of England’s licensing laws.Taxi and private hire drivers are being invited to put forward their priorities for licensing reform as MPs begin engaging with the trade ahead of the Government’s planned Draft Taxi and Private Hire Vehicle Bill.Tom Hayes, Labour MP for Bournemouth East, said he recently hosted taxi and private hire drive

Mileage rates submitted for school taxi contracts in Northern Ireland have fallen by around 15% after the Education Authority retendered more than 1,200 routes ahead of the new academic year.Early analysis of the procurement exercise suggests the authority has secured substantial savings across much of its school transport network. The Education Authority, known as EA, credited taxi operators that worked with it to reduce contract costs.However, the public body said several routes had not delive

TyreSafe has launched a dedicated suite of tyre safety resources for the taxi and private hire vehicle sector following several enforcement cases involving dangerously worn tyres.The materials are intended to help professional drivers, operators, fleet managers and licensing authorities carry out routine checks, understand legal requirements and identify when tyres need professional attention or replacement.Recent enforcement action in Liverpool resulted in the immediate suspension of a Sefton-l

Somerset Council has approved an updated taxi fare structure following a review of rising operating costs and wider cost-of-living pressures across the county.The maximum standard fare for a journey of up to one mile will rise from £4.60 to £5.06. Charges covering additional mileage and passenger waiting time will also increase, although the council has not provided the revised figures for those elements.Under the new tariff, a standard two-mile journey will cost a maximum of £8.60, compared wit

GMB Union has warned that plans to expand autonomous passenger services in London are “premature” without measures to protect professional drivers from potential economic disruption.The warning follows the launch of supervised autonomous rides by Uber and Wayve in the capital, which allows passengers booking selected Uber services to be matched with an autonomous Ford Mustang Mach-E.The vehicles currently operate with a trained Transport for London licensed private hire driver onboard to supervi

Wolverhampton taxi and private hire compliance officers have taken part in a multi-agency enforcement operation at the National Exhibition Centre (NEC) in Solihull.City of Wolverhampton Council’s Public Protection team said the operation was led by police and involved West Midlands Police, the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA), Immigration, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) and Solihull licensing officers.Images published by WV Public Protection show police motorcycles and officers carrying

Peterborough City Council is set to consider a wide-ranging overhaul of its taxi and private hire licensing policy which could remove existing rights protecting older licensed vehicles and introduce financial checks for private hire operators.The proposals are due before the council’s Licensing Committee on 10 September, with members being asked to approve a one-month statutory public consultation on a draft Taxi and Private Hire Policy covering 2026 to 2031. Drivers, operators, trade federation