there in the government’s recently updated stats where it is clear that private hire licensing has surged in areas such as Portsmouth, Southampton, Chichester, Lewes et al, while those same drivers predominantly work here. And why? Well certainly other areas do not require the high standards required here, where a dual badge to drive both a hackney and private hire vehicle entails passing an extensive knowledge test so that local drivers here are not driving with their eyes glued to a satnav being forced to use a prescribed route plugged into earphones for taking directions. Although whilst Lewes also issues a dual badge, the knowledge test is designed to be really simple.
Am I leading up to the only cure of increasing the number of locally licensed drivers here is to drop the dual badge with no knowledge test to drive a private hire vehicle? Absolutely not, because whilst numbers have dwindled, we still have drivers passing the knowledge test who have gone out of their way to become part of the local trade ‘family’ because it can be done with a bit of effort and is absolutely open to all.
Social Media Complaint
On a local Brighton Facebook group, a post was made an allegation that the author’s young son was in an accident with a ‘taxi’ in Brighton. The allegation was that the driver of the ‘taxi’ made the young man go with him to a body repair shop and demanded a payment of £500 and also demanded that he paid £250 a day for every day the car was off the road. It was stated that they young man felt very threatened.
I was alerted to this post and as the plate and registration of the vehicle was provided, I knew straight away that the allegation was against an out-of-town private hire vehicle because I am very familiar with all the various plate numbers of the many OOTs that predominantly work here. I also knew exactly which licensing area that the private hire vehicle was from. So, I posted which licensing area this was and the contact details. I also contacted the respective licensing authority and gave the full transcript allegation of the post plus a screen shot of it.
You may be asking why I did this? Well, as usual, any social media post about ‘taxis’ (which is a term that everyone uses who does not know the difference between a taxi and a private hire vehicle) has the usual
PHTM NOVEMBER 2026
slagging off about taxi drivers. And as this was a Brighton Facebook group, you can see where this was going with every anonymous troll surfacing and spitting as much venom as they could before they were put to bed by their carer.
So, as a natural busy-body, I had to step in and make it clear that the allegations were against a driver that was not licensed in Brighton & Hove and I gave the licensing area. I also made the point that this private hire vehicle did not have council controlled CCTV, as that licensing area does not have it as a condition of licensing, unlike all B&H taxis and private hire vehicles. I also stressed the important point that when using a particular national app here, and where there is a complaint, the chances are very high that B&H council will not want to assist and it will be up to the user to try and find out which licensing area under which the driver and vehicle was licensed. I don’t know if the licensing area is supplied when the booking is taken.
The licensing authority concerned was reasonable in as much as they stated they would speak to the driver, but would need a statement from the victim to investigate this further. I don’t know if this was followed up as a complaint, however, there are three important points here:
1: CCTV is an essential requirement in taxi and private hire vehicles to not only protect the customer but also to protect the driver should any complaint be false, which could have even been the case in the example given.
2: This clearly demonstrates how utterly ridiculous the situation is with out-of-town drivers pre- dominantly working in another area which could be a hundred-miles plus away from respective licensing enforcement, if that even exists.
3: As a trade it is up to us to be vigilant and be the eyes and ears for the protection of people in our own towns and cities and make every effort to report any rogue drivers who think they can work out-of-sight and out-of-mind of respective licensing enforcement. If we don’t, then they get away with it and the rest of us get tarnished.
Lastly, at the time of writing the government’s response to ‘Raising the standard’ has been published and at a quick glance it is very clear that ‘predominant out-of-area working’ (POAW) is here to stay.
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