PETITIONOpenPetition · petition.parliament.uk

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

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.

Last fetched 03 May 2026 · petition.parliament.uk

Signatures

signatures

Government response threshold (10,000) · 34/10,000

Debate threshold (100,000) · 34/100,000

Background

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.