Hackney Carriage Vehicles
How to Recognise a Hackney Carriage Vehicle
Hackney Carriage Vehicles may be London-style purpose-built vehicles, saloon cars, estate cars, hatchback models, multi purpose vehicles or minibuses dependant on the hackney carriage licence number. New Hackney Carriage licences can only be issued to a wheelchair accessible vehicle.
All Hackney Carriages must have a ‘Taxi’ roof sign. When the roof sign is illuminated, it tells the public the taxi is available for hire. When the roof sign is not illuminated, it means the taxi is occupied or not available for hire. The roof sign should be illuminated bearing the word ‘Taxi’ in black letters on a yellow background facing forwards and on a red background facing backwards.
All vehicles must have a taxi meter in the cab and display a white licence plate on the rear of the vehicle that contains:
- the licence number
- registration number
- make, model and colour of the vehicle
- number of passengers it is allowed to carry
Hackney Carriage vehicles must also display white comment stickers on the offside and nearside rear windows and must display a current table of fares.
All Hackney Carriage Vehicles must clearly display a legal No Smoking sign.
All these identification features are there to protect you and deter bogus taxis from operating. You are strongly advised not to hail any vehicle in the street that does not have these features.