Cheap drivers medicals for taxi drivers

We do medical examinations for people applying for a first taxi licence and existing taxi drivers renewing their licences. We aim to provide some of the cheapest taxi medicals in the UK and also to give you the best service.

The majority of councils allow their drivers to go to any registered doctor but it is important that you check with your licensing department before you come to us because some councils say that drivers have to go to their own GPs.

The council licensing department will give you a medical questionnaire which you need to bring with you to your appointment for the doctor to complete. You then need to return this to the licensing officer.

Here at Cotswold Medicals, we are often asked whether taxi drivers need to pass the same medical as bus drivers and lorry drivers, or whether the medical requirement is the same as the car driver which is less strict.
This is what DVLA say about it:

Taxi and hackney carriage licensing
The House of Commons Transport Select Committee on taxis and private hire vehicles recommended in February 1995 that taxi licence applicants should pass a medical examination before a licence could be granted.
Responsibility for determining the standards, including medical requirements, to be applied to taxi drivers, over and above the driver licensing requirements, rests with the public carriage office in the metropolitan area and the local authority in all other areas. Current best practice advice is contained in the booklet "Fitness to Drive: A Guide for Health Professionals" published on behalf of the Department by The Royal Society of Medicine Press Limited (RSM) in 2006. This recommended that the group 2 medical standards applied by DVLA in relation to bus and lorry drivers, should also be applied by local authorities to taxidrivers.

 

What this says is that although it isn't the responsibility of DVLA, taxi drivers and hackney carriage drivers do need to meet the same medical standards as PCV drivers and HGV drivers.

There is one exception to this rule which relates to people with diabetes on insulin who are sometimes allowed to drive taxis. The rules are complicated. If this applies to you, please give us a call and one of our doctors will be happy to advise you.