Highway Code for Taxi Drivers

The Highway Code for taxi drivers is the same Highway Code every motorist follows. What changes is how it is tested. Council knowledge tests pick out the rules that matter most when you carry passengers for a living: where you can stop, how close you can follow, how to treat pedestrians and cyclists, and what the law says about seat belts and children in a licensed vehicle. Several councils give the Highway Code its own section with its own pass mark, so a weak spot here can fail you even if you know the local area well. This page shows which tests weight it most, explains the rules asked about most often with their rule numbers, and links to practice.

This page summarises; it does not replace the Code. Read the full text, free, on GOV.UK's Highway Code, which is Crown copyright under the Open Government Licence v3.0. UK Driver Licence Prep is an independent study aid, not linked to the DfT or any council. Rules were checked against the GOV.UK text in October 2026.

Which taxi tests weight the Highway Code most

Test	How the Highway Code is tested
Stroud	A 10-question Highway Code section; you need at least 8 right, on top of 80% overall
Cambridge	Separate Highway Code and Signage sections, each needing 80%
Sheffield	5 Highway Code questions; you need 4
Sevenoaks	Highway Code and road signs and markings categories, each needing 80%
Reigate & Banstead	5 of the 20 private hire questions, within a 90% pass mark
Other councils	Highway Code and signs questions inside a general or road safety section
TfL SERU	Not a Highway Code test, but the safer driving and London driving sections overlap with it

Where a section has only five or ten questions, the maths is harsh. In Sheffield's five, two mistakes is a fail. In Stroud's ten, three mistakes is a fail, even with a strong overall score.

Key fact: In tests with a Highway Code minimum, the Highway Code is effectively a pass-or-fail test of its own. Revise it as seriously as the local rules.

The hierarchy of road users (rules H1 to H3)

Added in January 2022, these rules are now some of the most asked about.

• Rule H1: those who can cause the greatest harm have the greatest responsibility to reduce danger. The Code names drivers of cars and taxis among them. The people most at risk are pedestrians, cyclists, horse riders and motorcyclists, and children, older adults and disabled people are more at risk still.
• Rule H2: at a junction, give way to pedestrians crossing or waiting to cross the road you are turning into or out of. You must give way to people on a zebra crossing, and to pedestrians and cyclists on a parallel crossing.
• Rule H3: don't cut across cyclists, horse riders or horse-drawn vehicles going ahead when you turn into or out of a junction or change lane. Wait for a safe gap.

For taxi drivers this matters most at pick-ups and drop-offs, when you are pulling in and out and watching for the passenger rather than the cyclist. The free vulnerable road users note covers these rules in full.

Speed limits (rule 124)

National limits for cars, including taxis and private hire cars:

Road	England and Scotland	Wales
Built-up area (street lights)	30 mph	20 mph
Single carriageway	60 mph	60 mph
Dual carriageway	70 mph	70 mph
Motorway	70 mph	70 mph

Local limits can be lower, such as 20 mph zones in English towns or 50 mph on dangerous single carriageways. A larger passenger vehicle may have different limits: minibuses not over 12 metres long are limited to 50 mph on single carriageways and 60 mph on dual carriageways.

Stopping distances and following gaps (rule 126)

Stopping distance questions appear in almost every council test. The Highway Code gives typical stopping distances for a car on a dry road. Overall stopping distance is thinking distance plus braking distance.

Speed	Thinking distance	Braking distance	Overall stopping distance
20 mph	6 m	6 m	12 m
30 mph	9 m	14 m	23 m
40 mph	12 m	24 m	36 m
50 mph	15 m	38 m	53 m
60 mph	18 m	55 m	73 m
70 mph	21 m	75 m	96 m

Rule 126 also gives the gap rules:

• Leave at least two seconds behind the vehicle in front on fast roads and in tunnels.
• Double it on wet roads.
• Up to ten times greater on icy roads.

Worked example. At 40 mph your typical overall stopping distance is 36 m. On a wet road the Code tells you to at least double your gap, so a two-second gap becomes four seconds. Count it from a fixed point, such as a lamp post: say "only a fool breaks the two-second rule" twice.

Learn the table by spotting the pattern: thinking distance goes up by 3 m for every 10 mph. The free speed and stopping note has more.

Exam tip: Read whether the question asks for thinking, braking or overall distance. A common trap gives the right number for the wrong one.

Stopping and parking: the taxi driver's rules

These are the rules councils care about most, because drivers break them every day at pick-ups.

Yellow lines (rule 238 and road markings)

• Double yellow lines mean no waiting at any time.
• The Code's road markings section says you may stop on yellow lines while passengers get in or out, unless there are also loading restrictions. Some councils' conditions say the same in their own words; Oxford's, for example, allow double yellow lines only to set down or pick up.
• You must not stop to pick up or set down on school entrance markings where upright signs prohibit stopping.

Where you must not stop or park (rule 240)

You must not stop or park on, among others:

• a pedestrian crossing, including the area marked by zig-zag lines (see also rule 191);
• a clearway;
• an urban clearway in its hours, except to pick up or set down passengers;
• double white lines, except to pick up or set down passengers or load or unload;
• taxi bays shown by signs and markings (unless you are a taxi entitled to use them);
• a cycle lane or tram lane while it operates, or a cycle track;
• red routes, unless signs allow it.

Where you should not stop (rule 243)

Don't stop or park near a school entrance, at or near a bus stop, tram stop or taxi rank, within 10 metres of a junction (unless in an authorised space), on a bend, near the brow of a hill, where the kerb is lowered for wheelchair users, or in front of an entrance to a property.

Getting passengers out safely (rule 239)

• Passengers, especially children, should get out on the kerb side.
• Check mirrors and look around before opening a door.
• Open your own door using the hand on the opposite side, so you turn your head and see cyclists coming.

The free parking and lights note covers these rules in more depth.

Key fact: Zig-zag lines are never a drop-off point, even for a few seconds. Yellow lines usually are, for passengers getting in or out, unless loading is also banned.

Bus lanes (rule 141)

Signs show which vehicles may use a bus lane and when. Outside its hours, anyone may use it. Any vehicle may enter a bus lane to stop, load or unload where this is not prohibited. Where a sign includes "taxi", it means hackney carriages. Private hire vehicles may only use a bus lane if the sign says so, and some councils, such as Birmingham, ban them from all bus lanes. Our page on private hire vs hackney carriage covers this difference.

Mobile phones (rule 149)

You must not use a hand-held phone or similar device while driving, for any purpose, even when stopped in traffic. The exceptions are calling 999 or 112 in a genuine emergency when it is unsafe to stop, and making a contactless payment while the vehicle is stationary. GOV.UK says the penalty is 6 penalty points and a £200 fine, and drivers who passed their test in the last two years lose their licence.

For taxi and private hire drivers, this covers the booking app too. Mount the phone, set the route before you move, and only touch it when parked safely. Hands-free use is legal but the Code warns it still distracts.

Seat belts and children in taxis (rules 99 to 102)

The general rule: everyone must wear a seat belt where one is fitted, and children under 1.35 metres need the correct child restraint. Licensed vehicles have special rules:

• Drivers. GOV.UK lists seat belt exemptions for a licensed taxi driver looking for fares on the street or at a rank, and for licensed taxi and private hire drivers while carrying passengers.
• Children under 3. If the correct child restraint is not available in a taxi, they may travel unrestrained in the rear.
• Children from 3 up to 1.35 m or 12 years. In the rear of a licensed taxi or private hire vehicle without the correct restraint, they must use the adult belt.
• The front seat always needs the correct restraint for a child. Never fit a rear-facing baby seat in front of an active airbag (rule 101).
• Passengers 14 and over are responsible for wearing their own belt.

Councils add their own rules. York's conditions, for example, ban children under 10 from the front of a private hire vehicle except on risk-assessed contract work.

Motorways (rules 253 to 273)

• Keep to the left lane unless overtaking, and return to it when safe (rule 264).
• Never drive in a lane closed by a red X or red flashing lights (rule 258).
• You must not pick up or set down anyone on a motorway, except in an emergency (rule 272). This matters for airport runs: if a passenger asks to be dropped on the hard shoulder or a slip road, the answer is no.
• Don't stop on the hard shoulder or in an emergency area except in an emergency.

Road signs and markings

Many councils test signs separately. The basics come from the Code's signs section and the DfT's Know Your Traffic Signs:

Shape and colour	Meaning
Circles	Give orders
Red circles	Mostly tell you what you must not do
Blue circles	Mostly tell you what you must do
Triangles	Warnings
Rectangles	Information
Octagon (STOP) and inverted triangle (GIVE WAY)	Special shapes so they can be recognised from behind or covered in snow

Learn the signs that matter for taxis: bus lane signs that include or exclude taxis, taxi rank markings, no stopping and no waiting signs, and controlled parking zone entry signs. Practise in Cambridge road signs.

Where the Highway Code overlaps with the SERU

London drivers don't sit a Highway Code test as such, but TfL's SERU assessment covers safer driving and driving and parking in London from the PHV Driver's Handbook. Many of the same ideas appear: vulnerable road users, phones, fatigue and where you may stop. If you are taking the SERU, our SERU mock test covers those sections.

How to practise Highway Code questions for the taxi test

Every council route on our site shares a bank of about 1,500 Highway Code questions and 300 road signs questions, each with an explanation and the rule number it comes from. Practise them through any council:

• Stroud Highway Code practice, useful for its 8 out of 10 rule.
• Sheffield Highway Code practice, for its five-question section.
• Cambridge road signs practice, for the separate signs section.

The shared core of every council test, including law and safeguarding as well as the Highway Code, is explained in our council taxi knowledge test guide, and the question styles are shown on taxi knowledge test questions and answers.

Your study plan

1. Today: read rules H1 to H3, 124, 126 and 238 to 243 on GOV.UK.
2. This week: learn the stopping distance table and the speed limit table until you can write them out from memory.
3. Next week: drill Highway Code and signs topic practice for your council until you score at least 90% every time.
4. Before your test: sit your council's free mock 1 and check your Highway Code section score on its own, not just the total.
5. Keep going: the free vulnerable road users note is the best place to start the Highway Code notes, and Pro unlocks all of them and every mock from £6.99 a week; see pricing.