Taxi vehicle age

Overview

Local councils license hackney carriages and private hire vehicles. Each council sets its own pre-licensing requirements in order to be satisfied that a vehicle is suitable to be licensed, with the focus being on public safety.

The number of hackney carriages has been in decline in Leicester for some time due to a number of factors, one of which is the cost of buying a suitable vehicle. Trade representatives say that there are very few affordable hackney carriages available on the second-hand market.

Private hire vehicles do not have to meet the same specification as hackney carriages and so licence holders have a wider choice, but they also report financial pressures. Many private hire vehicles working in Leicester are licensed by other councils, which allow vehicles to be kept for longer. 

Leicester City Council’s current vehicle age policy requires all vehicles being licensed for the first time (ie, not renewals) to be no older than five years, and for all vehicles being relicensed (ie, renewals) to be no older than 11 years.

Representatives of the taxi trade have requested a review of the current policy. This is viewed as a reasonable request – the policy has not been revisited for a number of years, and it is noted that there are significant pressures on the trade in the current financial climate.

The council is mindful of the need to move towards to cleaner, greener vehicles to improve air quality in the city. For this reason, it is possible that there may be other changes to the vehicle licensing policy at a later date.

This consultation will remain open for six weeks, until 25 February 2024. The responses will then be collated by officers and reported to the Licensing & Public Safety Committee and the Executive for a decision on what the vehicle age policy should be.

A decision is expected within two months of the close of the consultation period. If the decision is to amend the existing policy, the implementation date will depend on what changes are being made.