Fleet Management Software for Taxi and Private Hire Operators in the UK

Built around the UK taxi licensing framework

Unlike most commercial fleet categories, taxi and private hire licensing in England and Wales is regulated at the local authority level — which means the compliance requirements you face depend on the council or councils that licence your vehicles and drivers. In London, Transport for London (TfL) oversees private hire and taxi (TPH) licensing with its own set of conditions, including vehicle age limits (currently a maximum of 15 years for non-wheelchair-accessible PHVs, and a maximum of five years for new PHV applications). Outside London, district and borough councils set their own vehicle and driver standards.

Despite that variation, some obligations are universal. Every PHV operator needs a Private Hire Operator Licence, every driver needs a council-level PHV or hackney carriage driver licence backed by a satisfactory DBS (Disclosure and Barring Service) check, and every licensed vehicle must pass regular council vehicle inspections — often every six months for newer vehicles. GPS tracking is increasingly written into operator licensing conditions by councils across the UK, and the data must be retained and available on request.

FleetGS addresses these requirements directly. The live GPS tracking module keeps a continuous, timestamped location record for every licensed vehicle. The compliance module manages vehicle inspection scheduling aligned to your council's inspection intervals, MOT dates, vehicle licence renewal dates, and insurance expiry. The driver management module stores DBS certificate details, DVLA licence check records, and driver licence expiry alerts in a single auditable system.

• Live GPS tracking for all licensed vehicles
• Driver licence verification and expiry alerts (DVLA Mandate)
• Digital vehicle inspection logs — council-compliant records
• MOT and vehicle licence renewal tracking
• Driver behaviour scoring (harsh braking, speeding, idling)
• GPS-verified timesheets for driver pay accuracy
• Working Time Directive monitoring for driver hours
• Geofencing for depot check-in and zone compliance
• Job dispatch with real-time ETA visibility
• Maintenance scheduling aligned to council inspection intervals

Operational tools that work alongside your dispatch system

Most established PHV operators already use a booking and dispatch platform — Autocab, iCabbi, Sherbet, or a bespoke system. FleetGS is not a dispatch replacement. It is the fleet management and compliance layer that sits alongside your dispatch software, handling the vehicle and driver management obligations that dispatch systems do not cover.

Where dispatch software manages bookings, driver allocation, and customer-facing features, FleetGS manages the underlying fleet: vehicle condition, driver compliance, working time records, maintenance history, and GPS journey data. Together, they give a PHV operator a complete operational picture — without needing to switch dispatch providers.

The GPS timesheet feature is particularly useful for PHV operators paying drivers on a shift or hourly basis. Clock-in and clock-out events are linked to GPS location, so pay records are verifiable and disputes are minimised. For operators managing drivers under the grey fleet model or with irregular shift patterns, GPS-verified timesheets reduce payroll errors and provide an auditable record. For more on managing complex driver arrangements, see our guide to grey fleet management in the UK.

Geofencing allows operators to define depot check-in zones, restricted operating areas, and airport holding areas. When a vehicle enters or leaves a defined zone, an alert is triggered and the event is logged. For operators with council-imposed geographic restrictions on where their PHV licence is valid, geofence monitoring provides an additional layer of oversight.

Vehicle maintenance and licensing — staying ahead of council inspections

Council vehicle inspections for PHVs are typically more frequent than standard MOT cycles — many councils require a full vehicle inspection every six months for vehicles in their first few years of licensing. Failing to present a vehicle for inspection on time, or presenting a vehicle that fails, can result in immediate suspension of the vehicle licence and loss of operating capacity.

FleetGS tracks inspection due dates, MOT expiry, and vehicle licence renewal dates for every vehicle in the fleet. Automated reminders go to the fleet manager in advance of each deadline, giving time to book the vehicle in for pre-inspection preparation. Digital inspection logs record the outcome of each check, creating a permanent maintenance history per vehicle.

For operators managing a mixed fleet of hackney carriages and PHVs — each with different licensing councils, different inspection requirements, and different age limits — FleetGS applies the correct rules per vehicle rather than a single one-size-fits-all schedule. Vehicle age, licensing authority, and inspection interval are all configurable at the vehicle level.

Insurance is another area where good records pay off. Commercial fleet insurance for PHV operators is competitive, and insurers increasingly ask for evidence of fleet management standards at renewal. Maintenance records, GPS tracking data, and driver behaviour scores from FleetGS can support a stronger renewal negotiation.