Licensing is the invisible machinery that decides whether the car you get into is insured, checked and accountable. Usefully, the Department for Transport publishes accredited official statistics on it every year, so a lot of this is real, sourced data rather than guesswork. Here’s the national picture — how many taxis and private hire vehicles are licensed, what safety checks are now mandatory, how wheelchair-accessible the fleet is, and what the prosecution figures show — plus an honest note on where the numbers get thin. Figures are the DfT position as at 1 April 2024 unless stated; check GOV.UK for the latest release.
Key takeaways
- 313,008 licensed taxis and PHVs in England (2024) — up 8.2% in a year.
- 381,100 driver licences — the most ever; PHVs now vastly outnumber traditional taxis.
- Enhanced DBS checks are mandatory in every licensing authority; 96% require safeguarding training.
- 11.5% of vehicles are wheelchair accessible — 53.9% of taxis but just 2.2% of PHVs.
- Per-council figures are “less robust,” and DBS-failure and revocation counts are largely FOI-only.
01 / SCALEHow many are licensed
As at 1 April 2024, England had 313,008 licensed taxis and private hire vehicles — up 8.2% in a year — and 381,100 driver licences, the highest number ever recorded. The two halves of the trade are moving in opposite directions: PHVs (minicabs) rose to 256,600 (up 10.5%), while traditional taxis (hackney carriages) fell to 56,400 (down 1.4%). Among drivers, roughly two-thirds hold a PHV-only licence, about a fifth are dual, and around one in ten are taxi-only.
| Measure (England, 2024) | Figure |
|---|---|
| Licensed taxis + PHVs | 313,008 (+8.2%) |
| Taxis (hackney carriages) | 56,400 (−1.4%) |
| Private hire vehicles | 256,600 (+10.5%) |
| Driver licences | 381,100 (record high) |
| Wheelchair accessible | 11.5% of all vehicles |
02 / CHECKSWhat drivers have to pass
The safety bar has risen. Enhanced DBS (criminal record) checks are now mandatory in every licensing authority, and 96% of authorities require safeguarding training covering child sexual exploitation and county lines. Disability-awareness training is spreading fast too — required by around two-thirds of authorities in 2024, up from roughly four in ten in 2019. A licensed driver isn’t just someone with a car; they’ve been background-checked, trained and vetted in a way an unbooked “cab” simply hasn’t.
03 / ACCESSWheelchair accessibility
Accessibility is where the taxi/PHV split shows most. In 2024, 11.5% of all licensed vehicles were wheelchair accessible — but that breaks down to 53.9% of taxis versus just 2.2% of PHVs. In London, every taxi is wheelchair accessible by TfL mandate. Outside London there’s wide variation between areas, and the decline of traditional taxis raises real questions about how accessible provision is maintained as PHVs come to dominate.
04 / PROSECUTIONSWhat the enforcement figures show
Some enforcement data is genuinely published. On equality duties, the Ministry of Justice records prosecutions for refusing assistance dogs and wheelchair-user discrimination: there were 11 prosecutions in 2023 (up from 4 in 2022, but well below the 47 seen in 2019), with assistance-dog refusals making up 61% over the last decade and an apparent conviction rate around 80%. Beyond that, though, the picture thins: general council enforcement prosecutions, licence revocations and DBS-check failures are not centrally published — they sit with individual authorities and are largely obtainable only by Freedom of Information.
05 / LOCALCaps, cross-border & local data
Two quirks shape the local picture. First, councils outside London can cap the number of taxis they license (about 72 authorities, a quarter, did so) — but they cannot cap PHVs, which is a big reason minicab numbers keep climbing. Second, cross-border / out-of-area licensing: drivers can license with one authority and work in another, and a handful of authorities (Wolverhampton being the famous example) license enormous numbers who operate far away. And a crucial caveat: the DfT flags that individual licensing-authority figures are “less robust” than the national ones, so treat any precise single-council count — including Kent’s districts — as indicative.
06 / MEANSWhat it means for you
The data makes the case for booking licensed. A licensed private hire journey means an enhanced-DBS-checked driver, a licensed and insured vehicle, a licensed operator behind the booking, and legal duties on accessibility — none of which an unbooked cab offers. Our guide to checking your driver is licensed shows how to verify it in seconds. As a Transport for London-licensed private hire operator, Rushxo assigns named, enhanced-DBS-checked drivers in licensed, insured vehicles — the accountable end of these statistics.
07 / SOURCESMethodology & sources
National and regional figures are from the DfT’s accredited official statistics, “Taxi and private hire vehicle statistics, England 2024” (position as at 1 April 2024), with prosecution data from the Ministry of Justice as reported in that release. The DfT notes individual licensing-authority figures are less robust and outside the scope of accredited statistics, and does not centrally publish DBS-failure or revocation counts. Verify against the latest GOV.UK release and the relevant licensing authority before relying on or republishing any figure.
FAQFrequently asked questions
How many licensed taxis and private hire vehicles are there in England?
As at 1 April 2024, 313,008 — up 8.2% in a year — made up of 56,400 taxis and 256,600 private hire vehicles, plus 381,100 driver licences, the most ever recorded (DfT accredited statistics).
How many licensed taxis are there in Kent?
Kent is licensed across its district and unitary authorities (such as Dartford, Gravesham, Medway and others), each holding its own figures. The DfT publishes per-authority numbers but flags them as “less robust” than national data, so check the specific council or the latest DfT tables for an exact local count.
Do taxi and private hire drivers have DBS checks?
Yes — enhanced DBS (criminal record) checks are mandatory in every licensing authority in England, and 96% of authorities also require safeguarding training on child sexual exploitation and county lines.
How many taxis are wheelchair accessible?
In 2024, 11.5% of all licensed vehicles in England were wheelchair accessible — 53.9% of taxis but just 2.2% of PHVs. In London, all taxis are wheelchair accessible by TfL mandate, with wide variation elsewhere.
How many drivers are prosecuted for refusing assistance dogs?
The Ministry of Justice recorded 11 prosecutions for assistance-dog refusal and wheelchair-user discrimination in 2023 (up from 4 in 2022, below the 47 in 2019). Assistance-dog refusals made up 61% of such prosecutions over the last decade, with a conviction rate around 80%.
How many taxi licences are revoked each year?
There’s no clean national figure — licence revocations and DBS-check failures are held by individual licensing authorities and are largely obtainable only by Freedom of Information, not centrally published by the DfT.
Can councils limit the number of taxis?
Councils outside London can cap the number of taxis they license — about 72 authorities (a quarter) did so — but they cannot cap private hire vehicles, which is a major reason PHV numbers keep rising.
What is cross-border or out-of-area licensing?
Drivers can license with one authority and work in another. A few authorities license very large numbers who operate far from where they were licensed — Wolverhampton being the well-known example — which is why local vehicle counts don’t always reflect who actually works in an area.
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