Scotland · driver medicals

Taxi driver medical in Aberdeenshire

Which doctor Aberdeenshire will accept, how often you have to repeat it and which form they want. Councils disagree with each other on every one of those, so this is Aberdeenshire’s answer and nobody else’s.

Who can carry it out

Any GMC-registered doctor

The most relaxed category there is. Any doctor on the GMC register can sign it, so a private medical centre is generally faster and cheaper than waiting for a GP appointment.

What Aberdeenshire requires

“As licensing authority, the Council has determined that taxi/private hire driver licence holders should have their medical fitness to drive assessed against the Group 2 standards applied by the DVLA”
How often: Under 70 with no declarable health condition: no medical certificate at all, self-certification at each application and renewal (driver licences normally run three years). Under 70 with a new declarable health condition at the point of application/renewal: a medical fitness certificate is required. 70 and over: a medical fitness certificate at the point of EVERY application/renewal. On top of that, any new declarable condition must be reported immediately during the life of the licence and may trigger an examination
Possible exemption: REAL EXEMPTION. A DVLA driving licence entitling the holder to drive an HGV or PSV removes the need for a certificate entirely - the driver self-declares instead: 'You do not need to obtain a separate medical fitness certificate in these circumstances.' The council verifies it from the copy of the driving licence it takes as part of the application. Separately, under-70s with no declarable condition also self-certify, so most drivers never produce a certificate

View official source ↗ ⚑ Report a change

Taken from Taxi and Private Hire Car Driver's Guidance - Medical Fitness Guidance (Ver: 1.0 - March 2023). Rules change and councils rewrite their pages without notice, so confirm before you book and pay. If something here is wrong please say and I will check it against the council and fix it.

How Aberdeenshire compares

Of the 315 UK licensing areas checked so far, Aberdeenshire is one of 31 that let any GMC-registered doctor sign it, which is the easiest and usually the cheapest position to be in.

Who may sign it elsewhere in Scotland

Neighbouring authorities do not follow each other on this, and a certificate accepted in one is regularly refused in the next. Check the area whose badge you actually hold.

Licensing area	Who can carry out the medical
Dundee	Your own GP, or a doctor with your records
Edinburgh	The council does it themselves
Aberdeen	The council does it themselves
Falkirk	The council does it themselves
Highland	The council does it themselves
North Lanarkshire	The council does not say
Renfrewshire	The council does not say
West Lothian	The council does it themselves
South Lanarkshire	The council does not say
Fife	The council does it themselves
Glasgow	Only a provider the council names
Dumfries and Galloway	The council does it themselves

What it costs to be licensed in Aberdeenshire

The medical is one bill among several. See what Aberdeenshire charges for the driver, vehicle and operator licences, taken from the same published sources.

Every line above is taken from Aberdeenshire’s own published guidance and read by hand against that source. Nothing here is from trade press, a forum or an estimate. This is not medical or legal advice.

← Medical rules for every UK licensing area