North West · driver medicals
Taxi driver medical in Barrow-in-Furness
Which doctor Barrow-in-Furness 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 Barrow-in-Furness’s answer and nobody else’s.
Who can carry it out
Any registered doctor with your records
You are not tied to your own surgery, which usually means a shorter wait and a lower fee. The condition is the records: the doctor must have seen your full history, not just examined you on the day.
What Barrow-in-Furness requires
- Who licenses you now: Barrow Borough Council was abolished on 1 April 2023. Westmorland and Furness Council issues your licence, but it still runs Barrow as a separate hackney carriage zone on the inherited Barrow policy, and barrowbc.gov.uk is still the live page for it. Private hire licences now work across the whole Westmorland and Furness area; hackney carriage licences remain zoned. Eden and South Lakeland keep their own different policies - do not read one across to another
- Possible exemption: Not published. No HGV/PSV/PCV/LGV or vocational-licence exemption appears anywhere in the 115-page policy - the only PCV/PSV mention is operator condition 7.5, forbidding the use of a PCV driver and a minibus to fulfil a private hire booking, which is nothing to do with medical exemptions. The 'medical exemption' passages in the policy are Equality Act assistance-dog and wheelchair-duty exemptions
- “Every application for a new and renewal licence will be required to be accompanied by a medical certificate, in a format specified by the Council, and completed by the applicant’s own GP or by another suitably qualified medical practitioner who has had access to the applicant’s medical records covering a minimum period of at least 5 years”
- How long it lasts: One month. 'The medical certificate must have been completed within 1 month of the completed application / renewal date.' That is a tight window by national standards - most councils allow three or four months
- How often: First application, then every three years on renewal, then annually from age 65. Licences are normally three-year, so the medical cycle and the licence cycle coincide until 65; from 65 the Council actively encourages drivers to take a shorter licence term so the two line up again ('It is considered appropriate for drivers aged 65 and over who are subject to annual medical examinations to apply for shorter licence terms'). Where a medical condition or age needs more frequent examination, the Council can grant shorter licences to replicate the frequency of medicals (minimum annually) and can require extra certificates. A new applicant must complete the whole process, medical included, within 3 months of applying. Drivers must notify the Council in writing within 48 hours of any change in their medical fitness
Taken from Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Licensing Policy, approved 13.10.2021, Version 1.1 (footer V1.1_16022024) - section 20 Medical Suitability. The binding source. 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 Barrow-in-Furness compares
Of the 315 UK licensing areas checked so far, Barrow-in-Furness is one of 105 taking that line, which is the most common arrangement in the country.
Who may sign it elsewhere in North West
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 |
|---|
| Blackpool | Any GMC-registered doctor |
| Bolton | Any GMC-registered doctor |
| Cheshire West and Chester | Any registered doctor with your records |
| Liverpool | Your own GP, or a doctor with your records |
| Manchester | Your own GP, or a doctor with your records |
| Preston | Any registered doctor with your records |
| Salford | Any registered doctor with your records |
| Trafford | The council does not say |
| Wigan | Any GMC-registered doctor |
| Knowsley | Your own GP, or a doctor with your records |
| Lancaster | The council does not say |
| Oldham | Any registered doctor with your records |
What it costs to be licensed in Barrow-in-Furness
The medical is one bill among several. See what Barrow-in-Furness charges for the driver, vehicle and operator licences, taken from the same published sources.
Every line above is taken from Barrow-in-Furness’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