Private Hire vs Hackney Carriage: What's the Difference?

The difference between private hire and hackney carriage comes down to one question: how does the passenger get the car? If they can wave it down or walk up to it on a rank, it is a hackney carriage, usually called a taxi. If they must book it in advance through an operator, it is a private hire vehicle, often called a minicab. Almost every other difference, from licences and meters to tests and insurance, follows from that. This page puts the two side by side, explains each difference, covers London's black cabs and minicabs separately, and helps you decide which licence you need.

UK Driver Licence Prep is an independent study aid for taxi and private hire drivers' tests. Facts below come from legislation.gov.uk, TfL and council policies, checked in October 2026. Councils set many details locally, so always check your own council's policy.

Private hire vs hackney carriage side by side

	Hackney carriage (taxi)	Private hire vehicle (minicab)
Main law outside London	Town Police Clauses Act 1847	Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976, Part II
Main law in London	Metropolitan Public Carriage Act 1869 and London Cab Order 1934	Private Hire Vehicles (London) Act 1998
Street hails	Yes, within its licensing area	Never
Taxi ranks	Yes, within its licensing area	Never
Pre-booked work	Yes	Yes, and only pre-booked, through a licensed operator
Licences needed	Vehicle and driver	Operator, vehicle and driver, all from the same authority
Fares	Meter, no more than the council's table of fares	Set or agreed through the operator
Appearance	Council markings, roof sign; often wheelchair accessible	Must not look like a hackney; door signs and plates set by the council
Contract for the journey	With the driver	With the operator who accepted the booking
Numbers	Councils may limit how many they license	No limit on numbers
London tests	Knowledge of London and the taxi SERU	PHV SERU, Topographical skills assessment, English speaking and listening
Council tests	Usually longer or harder	Usually shorter, with a lower pass mark

The rest of this page explains each row.

How passengers hire each one

Hackney carriages ply for hire. That means they can stand on a rank or drive around and be hired on the spot. The 1847 Act defines a hackney carriage by reference to standing or plying for hire in a street. A hackney can also take pre-booked jobs, by phone, app or through a booking office.

Private hire vehicles cannot ply for hire at all. Every journey must be booked in advance through a licensed operator. The DfT's statutory taxi and private hire vehicle standards call this the "triple licensing lock": the operator must use drivers and vehicles licensed by the same authority that licensed it. The operator keeps a record of each booking before it starts, which is a key safety protection.

A private hire driver who picks up from the street commits an offence and is usually uninsured. Our separate page on plying for hire explains the offences, penalties and the situations that trip drivers up.

Key fact: A hackney carriage can only ply for hire in the area of the council that licensed it. Outside that area it can do pre-booked work but cannot take hails or use ranks.

Licences: two for a taxi, three for private hire

To run a hackney carriage you need a hackney carriage vehicle licence and a hackney carriage driver licence. There is no operator licence, because the passenger hires the driver directly.

Private hire needs three licences, which section 46 of the 1976 Act ties together:

1. Private hire operator licence (s.55) for the business that takes bookings.
2. Private hire vehicle licence (s.48) for the car.
3. Private hire driver licence (s.51) for the driver.

It is an offence to operate, use or drive without the right one. Under section 56, the contract for a private hire journey is with the operator who accepted the booking, even if another driver or vehicle carries it out. That is why private hire complaints go to the operator first.

In both trades, the council must be satisfied that the driver is "fit and proper", which means safe and trustworthy enough to carry the public, and must have held a full driving licence for at least 12 months (1976 Act ss.51 and 59). Many councils set a longer period and a minimum age.

Meters and fares

Hackney carriages charge by a taximeter. The council sets a table of maximum fares, with tariffs for day, night and holidays plus extras such as luggage and extra passengers. A driver may charge less but never more for a journey within the district. For journeys that end outside the district, many councils let the driver agree a fare in advance.

Private hire vehicles charge the fare set or agreed by the operator. Outside London, some councils allow private hire vehicles to have meters, but the fare must not exceed what the operator agreed with the hirer. In London, section 11 of the Private Hire Vehicles (London) Act 1998 says a licensed private hire vehicle must not be fitted with a taximeter at all.

Exam tip: In council tests, fare calculation questions almost always use the hackney carriage table, because private hire fares are set by operators, not the council.

How the vehicles look

Councils make hackney carriages easy to recognise. Typical rules include a lit roof sign showing "TAXI", council plates and door crests, and in many places a set colour. York, for example, has required new hackney carriages to be black since November 2024. Many councils also require hackneys to be wheelchair accessible: Birmingham, Wolverhampton and Oxford in effect all do, and Sevenoaks has licensed only wheelchair accessible vehicles for new hackney plates since 2016.

Private hire vehicles must not look like hackney carriages. Section 48 of the 1976 Act lets a council refuse a vehicle that is designed or adapted to resemble a hackney carriage. Councils usually ban roof signs and words like "TAXI" or "CAB" on private hire vehicles, and require door signs such as Birmingham's "BE BOOKED, BE INSURED" or York's "PRIVATE HIRE VEHICLE - PRE BOOKED ONLY".

Rules on the road: bus lanes, ranks and seat belts

Bus lanes

Bus lane signs list which vehicles may use the lane. Where a sign shows "taxi", it normally means a licensed hackney carriage, not a private hire vehicle. TfL's bus lane rules list licensed taxis among the vehicles that may use bus lanes where signs allow; private hire vehicles are not listed. Council rules vary: Birmingham does not allow private hire vehicles in any bus lane in the city, and Oxford's conditions allow bus lanes only where signs permit.

Ranks

Only hackney carriages may wait on a taxi rank. Councils such as Sevenoaks make it an offence for any other vehicle to wait there, and Nottingham's rules forbid private hire vehicles from parking on hackney ranks.

Seat belts

GOV.UK lists slightly different seat belt exemptions for each trade. A licensed taxi driver does not need to wear a seat belt while looking for customers on the street or on a rank, or while carrying passengers. A private hire driver is exempt only while carrying passengers. See when you don't need to wear a seat belt.

Tests: why hackney is usually harder

A hackney driver has to find any address a passenger names, with no booking details on a screen. So councils usually test hackney drivers harder on routes and places.

Council	Private hire	Hackney carriage
Bristol	100 questions, 75% to pass	Same length, 90% to pass, with extra sections on offices, flats and places outside Bristol
Birmingham	18-question suitability test	Long test of routes and two-point locations, 90 of 100 geographical answers right
Oxford	55 questions	65 questions, including correct routes
Reigate & Banstead	20 questions online, map allowed	Written test at the Town Hall, no materials, harder route questions
Sevenoaks	56 questions	58 questions

Some councils only test one side. Stroud, for example, requires its knowledge test only from people applying for the dual badge; private hire-only applicants don't take it. Bristol makes a private hire driver who later wants a hackney licence pass again at the 90% standard.

Dual and combined licences

Many councils issue one driver licence that covers both trades:

• Dual licences: Sheffield, Kirklees and Stroud (the Stroud dual badge).
• Combined licences: Nottingham and Milton Keynes.
• Hackney licence covers private hire: Reigate & Banstead says its hackney carriage driver licence also lets you drive private hire vehicles.

A dual licence does not change what the vehicle can do. In a hackney carriage you may ply for hire; in a private hire vehicle you still need a booking through an operator, even with a dual badge in your pocket. Can a hackney carriage work as private hire? It can take pre-booked jobs, including from a booking office, but it remains a hackney carriage under the law and keeps its hackney rules, meter and fares.

Key fact: The licence goes with the vehicle you are driving at that moment. A dual-badge driver in a private hire car must follow private hire rules.

London: black cab vs minicab

London has the same split, with TfL as the only licensing authority for both. The old name for TfL's licensing office was the Public Carriage Office, which is why people still say "PCO licence".

	London taxi (black cab)	London private hire (minicab)
Licensed by	TfL	TfL
Hire	Hail anywhere in London, or ranks	Pre-booked through a licensed London operator only
Driver tests	The Knowledge of London, plus the taxi SERU since 1 October 2025	PHV SERU, Topographical skills assessment, English speaking and listening
Fares	TfL's taxi fares on the meter	Set by the operator; no taximeter allowed
Vehicle	Purpose-built taxi, wheelchair accessible	Saloons, MPVs and executive cars licensed by TfL

The Knowledge of London is the famous street-by-street test for black cab drivers. It is a different qualification from both SERU assessments and from council knowledge tests. Black cab drivers take the taxi SERU; private hire drivers take the PHV SERU test as part of getting a PCO licence. Passing one SERU does not exempt you from the other.

PCO vs PHV: the naming confusion

Drivers often ask about "PCO vs PHV". They are not two different licences:

• PHV (private hire vehicle) is the type of vehicle and work.
• PCO is the Public Carriage Office, the former name of TfL's licensing department.

So a "PCO licence" is a TfL private hire driver licence, a "PCO car" is a TfL-licensed private hire vehicle, and both are PHVs. Outside London, the same work is licensed by your council and is simply called private hire.

Which one do you need?

Ask yourself three questions:

1. Where will you work? In London, TfL licenses both trades. Elsewhere it is your council. Our how to become a taxi driver guide explains how to find the right authority.
2. How will you get work? If you want app or operator bookings only, private hire is usually quicker and cheaper to get, with a shorter test. If you want ranks and street hails, you need a hackney licence, a council-licensed hackney vehicle and usually a harder test.
3. What does your council offer? If it issues dual or combined licences, you may take one test and get both. Check the council taxi knowledge test guide for how each of the 15 councils we cover handles it.

Your study plan

1. Decide private hire, hackney or dual, using the questions above.
2. Read the free taxi and private hire law note, which covers the 1847 and 1976 Acts and the differences tested most often.
3. Learn the plying-for-hire rules on our plying for hire page, because every test asks about them.
4. Find your test: the council taxi knowledge test guide for councils, or the PCO licence guide for London.
5. Practise: start with the free diagnostic for your test on the practice page, then sit the free mock 1 under the timer.