North East · driver medicals

Taxi driver medical in Hartlepool

Which doctor Hartlepool 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 Hartlepool’s answer and nobody else’s.

Who can carry it out

Your own GP, or a doctor with your records

Your own practice is the straightforward route, but another doctor can do it if they have had full access to your medical history. Private clinics that request your records can qualify. One that examines you without them cannot.

What Hartlepool requires

“The medical certificate will be valid for a period of 6 months after which, if the driver's licence has not been issued, either a new medical certificate or a letter from the GP who carried out the original assessment confirming that there has been no change in the medical fitness of the applicant will be required”
How long it lasts: 6 months. Between 6 and 12 months old it can be kept alive by a letter from the same GP confirming nothing has changed; past 12 months you need a whole new medical
How often: On application, then a new certificate every five years from 45, and every year from 65. On a three-year licence the birthdays still bite: you must produce a new certificate on your 45th, 50th, 55th, 60th and 65th birthday even if that falls mid-licence
Form: A medical examination report in a Council approved format, signed by a registered medical practitioner

View official source ↗ ⚑ Report a change

Taken from Private Hire and Hackney Carriage Licensing Policy 2025 - paras 2.43 to 2.50, Medical Assessment. 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 Hartlepool compares

Of the 315 UK licensing areas checked so far, Hartlepool is one of 61 that will take another doctor provided they have had your full records.

Who may sign it elsewhere in North East

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
Durham	Any registered doctor with your records
Middlesbrough	Your own GP, or a doctor with your records
Newcastle	Your own GP, or a doctor with your records
Gateshead	Any registered doctor with your records
North Tyneside	Any registered doctor with your records
Northumberland	Your own GP, or a doctor with your records
Stockton-on-Tees	Your own GP only
Sunderland	Any registered doctor with your records
Redcar and Cleveland	Any registered doctor with your records
Darlington	Any registered doctor with your records
South Tyneside	Your own GP, or a doctor with your records

What it costs to be licensed in Hartlepool

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

Every line above is taken from Hartlepool’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