Cumberland Council licensed 445 hackney carriages and 307 private hire vehicles on 1 April 2026. The Department for Transport survey records 35 more hackneys, and 13 fewer private hire vehicles, than on 1 April 2024. Licensed vehicles in total rose from 730 to 752. Taxi and private hire vehicle statistics, England 2026
The fleet
Wheelchair-accessible hackneys fell from 90 to 80. Other hackneys rose from 320 to 365. Wheelchair-accessible private hire vehicles stayed at 22, and other private hire vehicles fell from 298 to 285. Private hire operator licences rose from 77 to 80.
Driver licences rose from 1,003 to 1,086. On 1 April 2024 the return listed 552 taxi-only licences and 451 private-hire-only licences, with no dual licences. On 1 April 2026 it listed 318 taxi-only, 386 private-hire-only and 382 dual licences. From 1 April 2025 the council issues one combined driver's licence for hackney carriage and private hire work. Hackney carriage and private hire policy
Private hire vehicles had already risen from 211 on 1 April 2023 to 320 on 1 April 2024. Hackney carriages went from 419 to 410 in that year.
The local figures
The News and Star reported council figures of 226 hackney carriages and 100 private hire vehicles in 2023/24, rising to 367 and 265 in 2025/26, and a link to the harmonised policy, including removal of a previous cap on hackney licences in Carlisle. Those vehicle counts are not in the Department for Transport tables. Cumberland's returns for 1 April 2023, 1 April 2024 and 1 April 2026 each record no limit on licensed taxi numbers. The policy states that there are no limits on the number of hackney carriages licensed.
In that account, the council has found no evidence that the harmonised system has harmed passenger safety or driver standards, and it does not hold historical knowledge-test pass rates.
The knowledge test
The council's licensing pages say the written local knowledge test is currently suspended. New drivers who have not completed it will need to pass within two months of the test being reinstated. The council will write to those drivers. Written local knowledge test
The policy still requires a driver skills assessment covering knowledge and navigational skills, an English communication test, a Group 2 medical, an enhanced DBS check with barred lists, and safeguarding training. The 1 April 2026 return still records a topographical requirement for hackney and private hire drivers, and a spoken and written English standard. The 2024 return recorded no English standard.