By Local Democracy Reporter Peter Davison
UBER has been awarded a licence to operate in Wiltshire for the first time since the app-based taxi service was launched in the UK in 2012.
The move coincides with a dramatic drop in the number of taxis and drivers licensed by Wiltshire Council since the pandemic.
The council’s Environment Select Committee heard that in 2025 the number of licensed taxi drivers fell by nine per cent – 79 drivers.
Since the start of the pandemic, the number of licensed drivers has fallen by more than a fifth (21 per cent) – 218 drivers.
The committee heard that, in the view of council officers, numbers are unlikely to return to pre-pandemic levels.
Previously, the committee was told that drivers have left the profession to take up supermarket delivery jobs – with guaranteed pay and more sociable hours.
Of the 841 licensed vehicles in Wiltshire, 478 (57 per cent) are hackney carriages, meaning they can be ‘hailed’, while 363 or 43 per cent are private hire vehicles, which have to be pre-booked.
The council had previously resisted issuing Uber an operating licence. However, there was no legislation to stop Uber drivers licensed elsewhere from working in the county, and this was “generating a lot of complaints and bad feeling within the trade.”
In a report to councillors, the council’s head of service passenger transport said, “Falling vehicle numbers has a significant impact on our Passenger Transport Unit as taxis are a vital element of the school transport solution.
“Uber will drive forward levels of service within the county and provide a better service to the public.”
Uber is an American tech platform that allows passengers to book a ride with an app. The company came to the UK in 2012, initially operating in London before rolling out nationwide.
