Taxi Driver Licensing Data for 01/01/2023 to 31/12/2025
Case reference FOI2026/00950
Received 20 April 2026
Published 18 May 2026
Request
Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, I would like to request the following information for the period 1 January 2023 to 31 December 2025.
1. Licensed drivers
The total number of licensed:
a) Taxi (hackney carriage) drivers
b) Private hire drivers.
2. Applications and licensing decisions
The number of driver licence applications:
a) Received
b) Granted
c) Refused
3. Suspensions and revocations
The number of driver licences:
a) Suspended
b) Revoked
Where recorded, please indicate how many were related to:
c) Sexual offences
d) Violent offences
4. Safeguarding and adverse information decisions
For the purposes of this request, “adverse information” includes: criminal convictions, police intelligence, safeguarding referrals and any other information considered relevant to the “fit and proper person” assessment
a) Please provide the number of cases where a taxi or private hire driver licence was granted, or renewed, where adverse information was known to the authority at the time of the decision.
b) Where possible, please also indicate:
How many of these cases involved sexual or violent offences (convicted or otherwise, where recorded)
If exact categorisation is not held, please provide any internal category used to record such decisions.
5. Background checks and safeguarding systems
Please confirm:
a) Whether your authority uses the NR3 register when assessing applicants (Yes/No)
b) Whether your authority subscribes to the DBS Update Service for ongoing monitoring (Yes/No)
c) How frequently enhanced DBS checks are required for licensed drivers:
i) At application only
ii) At renewal
iii) Other (please specify)
6. Private hire operators (including app-based services)
The number of licensed private hire operators under your authority, including app-based booking platforms such as Uber, Bolt or similar services where licensed locally.
Where available, please provide:
a) Number of operator licences granted
b) Refused
c) Suspended or revoked
d) Any enforcement action taken against operators
Response
Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, I would like to request the following information for the period 1 January 2023 to 31 December 2025.
1. Licensed drivers
The total number of licensed:
a) Taxi (hackney carriage) drivers
b) Private hire drivers.
2. Applications and licensing decisions
The number of driver licence applications:
a) Received
b) Granted
c) Refused
3. Suspensions and revocations
The number of driver licences:
a) Suspended
b) Revoked
Where recorded, please indicate how many were related to:
c) Sexual offences
d) Violent offences
4. Safeguarding and adverse information decisions
For the purposes of this request, “adverse information” includes: criminal convictions, police intelligence, safeguarding referrals and any other information considered relevant to the “fit and proper person” assessment
a) Please provide the number of cases where a taxi or private hire driver licence was granted, or renewed, where adverse information was known to the authority at the time of the decision.
b) Where possible, please also indicate:
How many of these cases involved sexual or violent offences (convicted or otherwise, where recorded)
If exact categorisation is not held, please provide any internal category used to record such decisions.
5. Background checks and safeguarding systems
Please confirm:
a) Whether your authority uses the NR3 register when assessing applicants (Yes/No)
b) Whether your authority subscribes to the DBS Update Service for ongoing monitoring (Yes/No)
c) How frequently enhanced DBS checks are required for licensed drivers:
i) At application only
ii) At renewal
iii) Other (please specify)
6. Private hire operators (including app-based services)
The number of licensed private hire operators under your authority, including app-based booking platforms such as Uber, Bolt or similar services where licensed locally.
Where available, please provide:
a) Number of operator licences granted
b) Refused
c) Suspended or revoked
d) Any enforcement action taken against operators
Answer: The information for questions 4a-4b and 6d is not held in a form that would enable it to be located, retrieved and extracted within the Appropriate Time Limit which equates to 18 hours as defined by the Freedom of Information and Data Protection (Appropriate Limits and Fees) Regulations 2004.
Our electronic reporting systems are unable to run a report for this information. To ascertain the data requested, officers would need to manually check individual files for this information. An initial search has shown that 554 files would need to be checked for this information, and it is estimated that it would take 5 minutes to check each file. Once the details had been identified this would need to be noted and once all files had been checked in this way, the total figures requested could be calculated.
This would at a conservative estimate take at least 46 hours to complete. Where the Limit is exceeded Public Authorities are not obliged to supply the information requested by virtue of S12 of the Act. Please take this letter as a refusal notice under S17 of the Act.
However, within the 18 hour limit, we can provide answers for questions 1a-1b, 2a-2c, 3a-3b, 5a-5c and 6a-6c, as requested. Please advise us if this is something you require.
Please be advised, the requested information for question 3c and 3d is not held.
Documents
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