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?

It's not Wolverhampton!

I was in a taxi the other day where the guy was telling me he drives down from Wales every other week to taxi in my city as its better money

May I suggest Wolverhampton gets its shit together on this- seems very dodgy - here in Bath most seem to be Gloucestershire

I’m in Hampshire and I’ve not noticed this, they’re mainly local.

just because the taxi is registered in Wolverhampton doesn’t mean the driver is from there.

I live near to (but not in) Wolverhampton and have heard this about taxis being registered in Wolverhampton. Locally there seems to be a mix of Wolverhampton taxis and those registered in neighbouring areas (Walsall, Sandwell, Cannock etc), also a few from further afield.

Am in Gtr Manchester- lots of Wolverhampton registrations here. Some haven't a clue about the area.

I live in Coventry and they are ALL licenced in Wolverhampton. Every single one. Apparently it is easy to get licenced there.

Yes ! Live in Buckinghamshire and loads of Braintree taxis. As pp says I think they are used for schools.

The Gov are planning legislation to stop out of area licensing of taxis and private hire vehicles. It was one of the recommendations of Louise Casey's report into Grooming Gangs.

The taxi does not need to be registered with the council where it operates. It just needs to be registered with a council somewhere in England.

The criteria for registration vary from council to council as do the fees each council charges. For example here in Cheshire East the council will only register cars which are less than 7 years old. They also charge £350 fees for registration. In Wolverhampton they allow older cars to be used and charge less in fees. As a result almost every taxi around here is registered in Wolverhampton.

That is not the case. Drivers do not need to register with their local council. They can register with any council anywhere in England.

My local authority doesn’t permit uber registrations. So they’re all from Wolverhampton.

Already been doing this. We have lots round here from sll over the place.

Some areas require DBS type checks. Others don’t.

That’s a huge red flag.

100 miles from Wolverhampton and I have had local taxi drivers tell me that loads of drivers registered there are in the local area - cheaper and easier to get registered they say. In this day and age there should be a national system with a common set of standards and costs. Where I lived before out of area drivers were also harder to sanction when there were complaints (some very serious ones) because where they were registered didn't care. Not their area, not their problem.

Uber driver told me it was easier to register there.

Most are licensed by Gedling near me. I've also heard that the local council cannot inspect these taxis for roadworthiness due to them being licensed by another council. Which is fucking ridiculous and scary.

EDIT -
Councils generally cannot directly inspect taxis licensed by another council. Councils can only take action against vehicles and drivers licensed by their own authority. If a council receives a complaint about a vehicle or driver licensed by a different authority, they can report it to the licensing authority that issued the license.

I get that, but if they lived in the area they are operating in, then they wouldn’t follow Google maps straight into areas that are known bottle necks ignoring your advice on where to avoid and not head to where 40 buses got stuck a few days earlier

They also would surely know if local about the new average speed cameras on a main road and not be doing 15 mph over the limit through them. When I said you might not know about the cameras I was told I was wrong because they weren’t on his app

To register in our local area, taxis have to be “accessible”, though apparently people with a lot of mobility problems don’t like the accessible ones. Hence most of them come from elsewhere.

Wolverhampton Council seems to give everyone a taxi license who walks through the door. We're a long way from Wolverhampton and I've seen Ubers with Wolverhampton Council bases in their window.

I remember reading some years ago how a lot of West Yorkshire taxis were registered in Blackburn, Blackpool, Burnley or Bury, ie a town in Lancashire beginning with B, I can't remember which one, because of cheap fees and less onerous requirements.

I don't know if that's still the case or if Wolverhampton has taken over from them.

According to google 96% of taxi drivers registered in Wolverhampton do not live there. 9000 of them live in Manchester.

I came to post the same!

Im south Hampshire so I’d be surprised to see a Wolverhampton register one here!