Taxi drivers face being suspended if they break signage rules during a new council crackdown. Stoke-on-Trent City Council is launching Operation Blitz on Monday, 13 April, to enforce the rules requiring all private hire vehicles to have door signs.
The councils says there has been a ‘significant increase’ in the number of private hire vehicles operating without door signs, with around three a day being spotted by officers. Any driver found without a door sign will now be immediately suspended, with the incident recorded on their driver records.
The council’s private hire rules require door signs to include the operator’s name and telephone number, as well as the words ‘private hire’.
A council spokesperson said: “Our taxi policy has always required door signs to be permanently attached to private hire vehicles at all times. The latest version of the policy – which came into effect on 1 September, 2025 – has not changed in that respect and it was fully consulted on before we adopted it. Door signs make it easier for people to recognise the correct taxi that they have booked particularly vulnerable, disabled and elderly customers – and fit into our wider commitment to safety.
“However, some neighbouring local authorities do not require door signs to be permanently attached to private hire vehicles. So for complete clarity, we wanted to inform licensed drivers that we would be introducing enforcement powers from April 13 to make sure that our private hire fleet is properly displaying all necessary signage.”
Councillor Dan Jellyman, leader of the opposition Reform UK group, welcomed the crackdown, but believes the name Operation Blitz is ‘deeply tone deaf’.
He said: “We welcome this long overdue crackdown on taxi drivers who are failing to follow the conditions of their vehicle licences and could be putting passengers at risk. But calling it ‘Operation Blitz’ is deeply tone deaf. In a city that rightly prides itself on helping the Czech town of Lidice rebuild after the Nazis destroyed it during the Blitzkrieg, the name is plainly insensitive.”
