Low-cost hackney licences for rural areas

New, low-cost hackney licences are being proposed by the Government for use in isolated parts of the country where regular taxi drivers don’t operate.

To make the scheme more attractive, applicants would not be required to sit the skills development programme required under standard SPSV licences and a simpler vehicle standard would be used.

However, rural taxi drivers would be forbidden from working in bigger towns and local community groups or businesses would have to “validate” the need for such a licence.