Wolverhampton is taxi licence capital of England and Wales – new study

The city has the highest rate of licensed taxis and private hire vehicles.

Analysis of data from the Department for Transport was carried out to determine the total number of licensed taxis and private hire vehicles (PHVs) per 1,000 people in each city across England and Wales.

These results were then ranked from highest to lowest.

Wolverhampton ranked first in the study, with 85.3 licensed taxis and PHVs per 1,000 people.

With a population of 263,700 residents, that is 580 per cent more than the proportion of licensed taxis and PHVs for the city in second place.

Whilst there are 0.6 licensed taxis per 1,000 people in Wolverhampton, the total figure is largely from licensed PHVs in the city, with a huge 84.7 licensed PHVs per 1,000 people.

It comes after a Freedom of Information request last year revealed almost 9,000 private hire taxi drivers registered with Wolverhampton Council live in Greater Manchester.

Transport for Greater Manchester called for a change in the law saying local councils "can not guarantee a high standard" from out of town drivers.

Last October, Wolverhampton Council said it had never actively encouraged applications from drivers outside the city and the council could not refuse an applicant simply because they live in a different area.

Newcastle came second in the study with 12.4 licensed taxis and PHVs per 1,000 people.

It recorded 10.5 licensed PHVs per 1,000 people, compared to two licensed taxis per 1,000 people.

London ranked third with 11.9 licensed taxis and PHVs per 1,000 people. The city has the largest population on the list at 8.8 million residents and has 10.2 licensed PHVs per 1,000 people, compared to 1.7 licensed taxis per 1,000 people.

Newport came fourth with 8.1 licensed taxis and PHVs per 1,000 people. With a population of 159,600, it has 7.6 licensed PHVs per 1,000 people and 0.5 licensed taxis per 1,000 people. Newport was found to be the only city in Wales to make the top 10 list.

Bradford ranked fifth with 7.9 licensed taxis and PHVs per 1,000 people. It recorded 7.5 licensed PHVs per 1,000 people, compared to 0.4 licensed taxis per 1,000 people.

Other cities in the top 10 include Manchester, Liverpool, Preston, Leeds and Southampton.

A spokesperson for private hire insurance specialist Zego, which carried out the study, said: “The results reveal that there is a much greater availability of PHVs in the vast majority of cities in England and Wales, than equivalent taxis when accounting for each city’s population.

“The difference between private hire vehicles and taxis is often misunderstood however, with many people assuming that the two terms are interchangeable.

"In reality, private hire vehicles are pre-booked through a licensed operator or ride-hailing app, such as Uber or Bolt, with fares agreed in advance. Taxis on the other hand typically use metered pricing set by the local council and can be flagged down by the customer."