South West · driver medicals

Taxi driver medical in South Somerset

Which doctor South Somerset 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 Somerset’s answer and nobody else’s.

What South Somerset requires

• Who licenses you now: South Somerset District Council was abolished on 1 April 2023. Somerset Council issues your licence, but it still runs South Somerset as a separate licensing zone with its own rules and its own forms. Somerset's driver page makes you pick a district before it shows you anything, and the four zones genuinely differ - do not read Mendip's or Sedgemoor's answer across to South Somerset
• “A new medical will need to be submitted on the initial application and then every 5 years on renewal following your 45th birthday (no more than 2 months after turning 45), and then each renewal following your 65th birthday (no more than 2 months after turning 65)”
• How often: On your initial application, then every 5 years on renewal following your 45th birthday, and then at each renewal following your 65th birthday. The council says it will remind you when the next one is due
• Form: The Hackney or Private Hire Driver's Medical Examination form, assessed against DVLA Group II standards

Taken from Somerset Council - Taxi or Private Hire driver licence, South Somerset area. The Medical section and the application process. 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 Somerset compares

Of the 315 UK licensing areas checked so far, South Somerset is one of 35 that publish nothing on who may carry it out.

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 Somerset

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

Every line above is taken from South Somerset’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