Councillors voted unanimously on 7 September to abandon the increase. The flag fare stays at £4.30 by day and £5.50 at night, and no new date has been set.
Worcester’s taxi fare rise has been abandoned. On Monday 7 September the city council’s Licensing and Environmental Health Committee voted to drop the increase it advertised in August and keep the fares set in 2022. The show of hands was unanimous. (Worcester City Council, recording of the Licensing and Environmental Health Committee, 7 September 2026)
That is not what the papers asked for. The report in front of members recommended bringing a varied table of fares into force on 15 September 2026. (Hackney Carriage Table of Fares Objection Review, report to the committee, 7 September 2026)
What you will pay
Nothing changes. The table approved in March 2022, which took effect on 1 May 2022, remains the maximum a Worcester hackney carriage may charge.
| Charge | Stays at | Would have been |
|---|---|---|
| Tariff One, first 1,208m (the flag fare) | £4.30 | £5.00 |
| Tariff One, first mile equivalent | £5.00 | £5.60 |
| Tariff One, each subsequent mile | £2.00 | £2.00 |
| Tariff Two, first 1,208m (the flag fare) | £5.50 | £6.40 |
| Tariff Two, first mile equivalent | £6.30 | £7.10 |
| Tariff Two, each subsequent mile | £2.80 | £2.80 |
| Waiting time, per 30 seconds | 10p | 10p |
| Each passenger over three | 50p | 50p |
Sources: Appendix 2, the fare tables and Appendix 1, the advertised notice.
Tariff One runs from 7am to midnight, Monday to Saturday. Tariff Two covers midnight to 7am, all day Sunday, bank holidays, Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day, and the evenings of Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve.
Why it was dropped
The trade asked for the rise, then objected to it.
The committee agreed on 15 June to advertise a higher table of fares. The statutory notice went out on 5 August. Two objections arrived before the 19 August deadline, and both came from within the taxi trade. The report records both as opposing the increase and citing “the economic difficulties the trade are facing in the current climate”.
One was from a licensed Worcester driver. The other was from the chairman of the Worcester Taxi Association, who attached a poll of the association’s members. The result printed on it was 2 yes, 67 no. (Appendix 4, Objection 2)
Councillor Richard Udall, who chairs the committee, said the association had told members in June “in very forceful terms” that it had the full support of its members, and that the increase was needed to save the trade. He said he accepted the trade had changed its mind, and proposed abandoning the increase and continuing with the 2022 charges. No member spoke against it.
A committee member asked whether the driver’s alternative had been considered: leave the starting price alone and raise the mileage rate instead. The council’s licensing manager said the idea had been discussed and the taxi owners association had rejected it.
Councillor Udall said the question of what the trade actually wants should now go to a future taxi forum, so that the council does not put another increase to consultation and then have to withdraw it.
The two tables that never had to be reconciled
The vote also disposed of a problem in the paperwork.
The report asked members to bring in the table “as set out in Appendix 2”. Appendix 2 is two pages. Page one is the May 2022 table still in force. Page two is a draft dated June 2026 that raises Tariff One but leaves Tariff Two alone, at £5.50 and £6.30.
The notice the public saw raised Tariff Two to £6.40 and £7.10. So the report pointed councillors at a table that was not the one advertised. We flagged the same gap on 20 August and again last week. By voting to keep the existing fares, the committee made the question moot.
The trade is shrinking
The council’s own licence counts, published in a separate report to the same meeting, show what the fare argument is happening against.
- Hackney carriage vehicles: 219, down from 263 in 2017/18.
- Dual hackney carriage and private hire drivers: 313, down from 370 in 2017/18.
- Private hire vehicles: 59, against 63 in 2017/18.
- Private hire operators: 19, up from 10 in 2017/18.
(Appendix 1, WCC licences, Licensing Compliance and Enforcement Update, 7 September 2026)
What it means for you
- Fares are unchanged, and there is no new start date. The flag fare is £4.30 by day and £5.50 at night, on Sundays and on bank holidays. The 15 September date in the papers has gone with the increase.
- A two-mile daytime journey stays at about £7.00 on the published table, rather than the £7.60 the advertised rise would have produced. That is our arithmetic on the council’s own figures, not a council quote.
- These are maximums, and only for hackney carriages. A driver may charge less. Private hire firms agree the price with you when you book, and are not covered by the table.
- The meter must be used for every journey that starts and finishes in the city, and no more than the metered fare may be charged. That line is printed on the fare table itself.
- Complaints go to Worcestershire Regulatory Services, not the city council, at enquiries@worcsregservices.gov.uk. WRS runs taxi licensing on Worcester’s behalf.
More Worcester information: parking in Worcester, roadworks and travel, trains to London and council tax bands.
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