Can I ask you to look at the backs of taxis in your area

[mumda]

Next time you go out and get stuck behind a private hire taxi could you look at the plate and see where it is registered.
Many of them in my area are registered out of area.
Why?

Because they are registered depending on where the driver lives (although TfL licenses those in London rather than the individual Borough Councils)
And taxis do not kick their passengers out when they get to the Council border....

https://www.taxiplus.co.uk/news/the-ongoing-debate-over-cross-region-taxi-licensing

In my area it's a very high percentage, and Andy Burnham has said he is going to stop it.

lots of Wolverhampton round here (ie nowhere near Wolverhampton).

Puppymonkey snap.

I understand that some areas have easier licensing regulations - Wolverhampton is one. Typed that before I read @PuppyMonkey 's post. I recall reading something about it in the past year or so.

They’re all Wolverhampton registered here.
i live about 80 miles away from Wolverhampton. Cheaper to register there i understand.

Mostly local with one or two out of area but I live in quite a rural county with only two or three large towns.

Lots of Wolverhampton here too (Liverpool). According to taxi drivers I've spoken to its because different local authorities have different 'exams' you need to pass to get your taxi licence and the Wolverhampton one is particularly easy

Lots of Wolverhampton near me, can’t remember the last time I got one that wasn't

Annoying thing about them is they are completely reliant on their sat nav’s which I think is distracting. It also sends them on routes that someone with even basic knowledge of the area would avoid completely

A lot prefer to work out of area due to the higher footfall. E.g travelling from Bolton to Manchester or from wakefield to leeds.

The ones I've seen are registered in Wolverhampton too. We're in the West Midlands but not really close to Wolverhampton!

Yes but private hire cars are also used for personal use. They may not all be working.

I’m in a NW town in England and the majority of taxis are Wolverhampton.

Live in East Mids - most around here also Wolverhampton

So all these out-of-area Wolverhampton taxis miles from home are…Wolverhampton wanderers.

Yep, almost all taxis round here are registered in Wolverhampton. We are not a million miles away from Wolverhampton but we are by no means close by either.

I assume that it's very easy to get a taxi licence in Wolverhampton. And I assume that the local authority there is probably making a lot of money out of it.

I think the taxis should have to be licensed by the local authority where the vehicles are registered.

Wolverhampton or Gedling. I am not in either.

Our council is wanting to tighten up its licensing procedures such as maximum age of cars. Taxi drivers are saying they can't afford those conditions and it will push them to register through other less stringent councils.

Mostly Wolverhampton where I am too (60 miles away)

apparently it is easier / faster to get licensed there. I hope this isn’t impacting safety.

I'm in West Yorkshire and have seen several taxi's registered to Wolverhampton. The rest seem to be from Leeds which is understandable as its the nearest big city.

It is 💯 because easier to get a licence in Wolverhampton. I live in Cheshire and apparently the requirements are much more stringent.

makes absolutely no sense, surely it should be a consistent standard wherever the driver is licensed.

All of ours are local. Our council (& the two neighbouring ones) won't allow cabs registered out of their area to operate (except when making a drop off) inside it.

I’m in North Yorkshire, and there are a few drivers registered in Wolverhampton here as well. I use taxis quite a bit, and one of the drivers explained that although he lives here, he got his registration in Wolverhampton as it was cheaper/ easier. Looks like Wolverhampton is very popular for this reason!

I had a really interesting chat with an Uber driver about this.

However, rather annoyingly I've completely forgotten the reason.

(I was more intrigued as to how the Uber app allowed a driver to tell it he's clocking off, and look for calls that would create a journey home).

More interesting was the array of phones he had on his dashboard. One for each app, Uber, Bolt and Lyft. Made me wonder if there is a market for a frame to hold them all 😀

I've noticed that all the ones that do school pick ups here are registered in another county. I assume that's because that's where the company the LA use is based?