According to the Manchester Evening News, Andy Burnham has urged Parliament to back a campaign to fix what he calls a “broken taxi system”, highlighting that huge numbers of Uber and private-hire vehicles working in Greater Manchester are licensed miles away — with Wolverhampton City Council licensing around 35% of all PHV drivers operating in the region.
DM News Commentary
Andy Burnham’s comments tap directly into one of the biggest frustrations across the UK taxi and private-hire industry: cross-border hiring and the dominance of out-of-area licences, especially from Wolverhampton.
For drivers working in Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham, Leeds and other major cities, this situation has completely reshaped local taxi markets. Councils spend time and money maintaining local standards, only for thousands of vehicles licensed elsewhere — often under lighter conditions — to work freely in their patch.
Burnham pushing this issue at a parliamentary level matters for several reasons:
1. It signals genuine political momentum
Cross-border licensing has been debated for years, but rarely championed by someone with national influence. Burnham putting it front-and-centre increases pressure on the Government to accept reforms — possibly via national minimum standards or giving metro mayors more control.
2. Manchester’s figures are a warning sign for the whole country
If over a third of Greater Manchester’s private-hire fleet is licensed in Wolverhampton, it raises fair questions about local accountability, safety, inspections and enforcement powers. Councils simply can’t regulate drivers they didn’t license.
3. Taxi and PHV drivers want a level playing field
Many local drivers feel they’re being undercut by drivers licensed elsewhere under cheaper or faster licensing regimes. Reform could rebalance the market — but it would also force thousands of drivers to rethink where and how they licence.
4. Wolverhampton isn’t the issue — the law is
Wolverhampton is following legislation that allows any driver licensed outside London to work anywhere in England and Wales as long as vehicle, driver and operator licences match. The real change would have to come from Parliament.
5. A national approach may finally be coming
With the ongoing Transport Select Committee inquiry and metro mayors raising the alarm, it looks increasingly likely that national taxi and PHV rules — or at least stronger minimum standards — could be introduced in the future.
For the wider taxi and private-hire trade, especially airport-transfer and app-based drivers, this debate could reshape the landscape. Whether the Government acts remains to be seen — but Burnham’s intervention has made cross-border hiring impossible to ignore any longer.
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