Glasgow refuses 38 driver applications, claiming city has ‘reached PHV limit’

Almost 40 people have been refused private hire car licenses in Glasgow as the city has reached its limit.

Glasgow’s licensing committee has turned down 38 applications for private hire licenses as it claims the city has enough cars.

Glasgow operates an overprovision policy, which means only 3,450 cars can operate at any time. As this limit has been reached, new applicants – including some drivers attempting to renew their licenses – are being turned down.

Some of the refused applicants admitted to not having used them within three months, which is against the conditions of the license. But others who simply wanted to license their own vehicles rather than renting from an operator have also been refused.

Licensing committee chair Cllr Alex Wilson told the applicants: “The reason you have been cited today is relevant to your private hire car application. We are currently sitting at 3,450 private hire cars out on the street just now, that means we’ve reached our limit.”

He asked them whether they had any reason why they should be exempt from the policy, but said person-al circumstances “doesn’t come into this at all”.

The refused applicants are also out of pocket - an application for a three-year private hire car licence costs £483 regardless of whether the bid is successful due to “administration costs”, Cllr Wilson said.

Some applicants argued more cars are needed as there is a shortage on Friday and Saturday evenings. Cllr Wilson said this was due to current drivers choosing not to work at these times.

The policy is set to be reviewed next year. The current figure was set in April 2023 following a review. This found there was “unmet demand” for taxis and some evidence of “potential underprovision of private hire cars”, particularly at peak times. An additional 250 private hire car licenses were made available, and all those licenses were quickly taken up.

The PiCG grant was launched in 2011, initially offering £5,000 off the price of EVs and plug-in hybrids. It was steadily downgraded to just £1,500 and was axed completely in 2022. The report said bringing the PiCG back would stimulate the “affordable EV market” and should be in place until price parity between EVs and ICE cars was achieved.