Cabbies in Wiltshire leaving trade to become delivery drivers
Many have swapped taxi driving for supermarket delivery jobs
Former cabbies in Wiltshire have left the taxi trade to become supermarket home delivery drivers.
That is according to a report to be presented to Wiltshire Council’s Licensing Committee next week.
The committee will hear how the county has lost around 200 licensed cab drivers – around 10 per cent – since the pandemic.
In April 2020 there were around 1,050 licenced cabbies in the county. As of July 2025 there were fewer than 850.
“Many drivers found that making food deliveries saw the same money without the unsocial and long hours,” the licensing team reports.
Meanwhile the number of licenced vehicles has declined from 917 at the time of the first Covid lockdown to 823 according to the recent report.
Around 500 are hackney carriages, which can be ‘hailed’ in the street, while the rest are private hire vehicles.
The committee will hear that many drivers are moving into private hire as customer behaviour has changed and many customers prefer to book a cab by app.
The licenced vehicles team will report that while “large numbers” of applications to become taxi drivers are being received, most want part-time work, using driving to top up their income from full-time employment.
“The team do not believe driver numbers will ever return to the levels seen pre-Covid 19 as the pandemic has impacted footfall our high streets and significantly weakened the night time economy,” says the report.
Meanwhile, the council continues to enforce the conduct of taxi drivers, and revoked four licences in July.
And look into Uber drivers, who are not licenced in Wiltshire, continuing to operate in the county.
Councillors will be told that although Uber is not currently licenced as an operator in Wiltshire, there is no legislation to prevent drivers licenced in another county from operating in the county.
“This has generated a lot of complaints and bad feeling within the trade,” notes the report.