LICENSING LESSONS GROUP 2: MEDICAL FITNESS AND TAXI LICENSING
Article by Talal Malik, Solicitor Transit Legal
www.transitlegal.co.uk
The medical standard that has become synonymous with taxi licensing
For most taxi and private hire drivers, the position appears straightforward: to obtain or retain a licence, the applicant must satisfy the DVLA Group 2 medical standard applied to lorry and bus drivers.
That is certainly the expectation across much of England. The Department for Transport recommends Group 2 because licensed drivers spend longer on the road than ordinary motorists, carry members of the public and may need to assist disabled or vulnerable passengers. But an important legal distinction can become lost in practice.
Outside London, Group 2 is not itself the statutory test under which a local authority grants or refuses a taxi or private hire driver’s
licence. It is a medical
benchmark which authorities are strongly encouraged to adopt, and which most incorporate into their policies.
That distinction matters where an applicant remains entitled to drive an ordinary car but falls just outside one of the more stringent Group 2 criteria.
What the legislation actually requires
For private hire drivers, section 51 of the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976 requires the authority to be satisfied that the applicant is a fit and proper person. Section 59 contains the corresponding qualification for hackney
carriage
drivers. Section 57 permits the authority to require medical information from an applicant, including evidence relating to physical fitness.
The Act does not say that failure to satisfy every element of Group 2 automatically prohibits the grant of a licence. The DfT guidance similarly makes clear that the licensing authority must assess the medical information and decide if the licence should be issued.
The doctor provides evidence; the authority remains the decision maker.
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Group 2 is a benchmark, but policy is not legislation
None of this diminishes the importance of Group 2. An authority which has adopted it is entitled to place substantial weight upon it as the national benchmark recommended for professional passenger carrying.
But a policy guiding statutory discretion should not ordinarily be treated as though Parliament had enacted an absolute prohibition. The authority must still consider the individual case and whether there is a proper evidential basis for departure.
It does not create a general medical “exception”; it means only that the statutory decision remains evaluative.
A driver with monocular vision
Consider an applicant who lost the sight in one eye following an isolated injury many years earlier. Group 2 is stringent in relation to monocular vision, whereas ordinary Group 1 driving may remain possible where the applicable acuity and visual field requirements are met and successful adaptation has occurred.
An applicant might therefore have years of safe driving, excellent corrected vision in the functioning eye and full adaptation, yet still fall outside Group 2.
If asked to depart from policy, the authority would need cogent evidence. A generic GP letter saying that the applicant is “fit to drive” is unlikely to suffice. Detailed ophthalmological evidence addressing acuity, visual field, stability, adaptation and progressive risk would be expected. A practical driving assessment may also assist.
The greater the departure from Group 2, the stronger the evidence required.
A single episode of loss of consciousness
Transient loss of consciousness is more difficult because it raises the risk of sudden incapacity. Suppose an applicant suffered a single episode of syncope during an identifiable medical procedure, has never experienced one while driving and has subsequently undergone specialist investigation.
If the applicant remains within a Group 2 exclusion period, departure from policy would be difficult. A consultant would need to identify the diagnosis and
OCTOBER 2026 PHTM
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