The headline: how big the UK cab trade is
The Department for Transport publishes the definitive count of licensed taxis and private-hire vehicles in England each year. The most recent figures, as at 1 April 2024, show a trade that is large and still growing.
- 313,008 licensed taxis and private-hire vehicles in England, up 8.2% in a year. (DfT, Taxi and private hire vehicle statistics, England, as at 1 April 2024.)
- 82% of those are private-hire vehicles (around 256,700); 18% are taxis / hackney carriages (around 56,300). (DfT, 2024.)
- 381,092 licensed drivers, up 10% year on year. Of those, 69% hold a private-hire-only licence, 20% are dual-licensed, and 9% are taxi-only. (DfT, 2024.)
The trade is growing and tilting towards private hire. More licensed cars on the road means more vehicles reaching end-of-licence and changing hands every year, which is the market we buy in.
London: private hire is huge, the black cab is shrinking
London is the country's biggest single licensed market, and the two halves of it are moving in opposite directions. Transport for London licenses both, and its figures show private hire many times larger than the black-cab fleet, and still climbing while taxis decline.
- 94,851 private-hire vehicles licensed in London, with 107,960 licensed private-hire drivers. (TfL licensing data, reported October 2024.)
- 14,536 licensed taxis (black cabs), with 17,018 licensed taxi drivers. (TfL licensing data, reported October 2024.)
- The long trend: London private-hire vehicles rose from about 49,900 in 2013 to about 89,600 in 2023. Over the same decade, black taxis fell from about 22,200 to about 15,100. (London Assembly.)
A shrinking black-cab fleet means each retiring TX or TX4 matters more. Supply tightens, and a specialist buyer who keeps these vehicles in licensed service pays for that, where a forecourt prices the shell.
London's black cab is going electric
Since 2018 every newly licensed London taxi has had to be zero-emission capable, and the fleet has changed fast as a result. The modern London cab is the LEVC TX, a range-extended electric vehicle that has largely replaced the diesel TX4.
- More than half of London's licensed black cabs are now zero-emission capable: 7,972 of 14,690 taxis were battery electric, most of them LEVC. (TfL, December 2023.)
- More than 9,000 LEVC TX electric taxis are now operating in London. (LEVC.)
- The electric TX emits about 94% less NOx than the diesel TX4 it replaced. TfL defines a zero-emission-capable taxi as one emitting no more than 75g/km CO2 and able to run at least 20 miles with no tailpipe emissions. (TfL / LEVC.)
- Every new London cab licensed since 1 January 2018 must be zero-emission capable. (TfL.)
Wheelchair access: the taxi vs private-hire gap
Accessibility is one of the clearest dividing lines between the two halves of the trade, and it shapes which vehicles hold value in the care and accessible-transport market.
- 54% of taxis in England are wheelchair accessible, against just 2% of private-hire vehicles. (DfT, 2024.)
- 100% of London taxis are wheelchair accessible, by TfL's Conditions of Fitness. (DfT, 2024.)
- Outside London, 37.5% of taxis are wheelchair accessible, reflecting the more mixed vehicle mix under local council schemes. (DfT, 2024.)
What the numbers mean if you're selling
Put the figures together and the picture is a large, growing, and electrifying licensed trade. That matters when you come to sell, because the value of an ex-trade vehicle depends on who actually wants it, not on a generalist used-car algorithm.
A black cab or a private-hire car has a real onward home in the licensed trade: fleet operators, owner-drivers relicensing in another city, accessible-transport providers, and continental export for clean diesels. A specialist buyer reaches those routes; a forecourt prices the vehicle as a tired used car and discounts the very history the trade pays for. That gap is the whole point of selling to a specialist.
If you want to know what your taxi, private-hire car or fleet is worth in this market, a real valuer prices it by hand and sends a firm offer within two hours. Free UK collection, same-day payment, no buyer fees. Start at /cab-valuation.
Selling a fleet rather than a single vehicle? Send a stock list at /fleet/submit for one written offer on the whole book.
Sources
Department for Transport, Taxi and private hire vehicle statistics, England: 2024 (published 31 July 2024, revised 22 January 2025), figures as at 1 April 2024, gov.uk.
Transport for London, taxi and private-hire licensing data, reported October 2024.
Transport for London, zero-emission-capable taxi figures, December 2023.
London Assembly, decline of London's black cab, london.gov.uk.
LEVC, TX electric taxi figures, levc.com.