South West · driver medicals

Taxi driver medical in South Hams

Which doctor South Hams 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 South Hams’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 South Hams requires

“The applicant will be responsible for making sure that their medical records are available to the medical practitioner so that the medical assessment can be completed”
How long it lasts: 3 months - no older than that when the application is completed
How often: On new driver application, then every 5 years from your 45th birthday, then every year from your 65th. In the years between, you must still DECLARE that nothing has changed. The council can also ask at any time
Form: A medical certificate in the agreed format, done either at a Licensing Authority approved medical centre or at your own GP surgery

View official source ↗ ⚑ Report a change

Taken from Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Licensing Policy, December 2023 - section 7, Medical Examination and Exemptions. 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 South Hams compares

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

Who may sign it elsewhere in South 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
Bristol	Any registered doctor with your records
Exeter	Only a provider the council names
Plymouth	Your own GP, or a doctor with your records
Bath and North East Somerset	The council does not say
Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole	Your own GP only
Cornwall	Any registered doctor with your records
Dorset	Any registered doctor with your records
Gloucester	Any GMC-registered doctor
Swindon	Any registered doctor with your records
Torbay	Any registered doctor with your records
Tewkesbury	Any registered doctor with your records
North Somerset	Any GMC-registered doctor

What it costs to be licensed in South Hams

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

Every line above is taken from South Hams’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