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Middlesbrough wheelchair-accessible taxis fallen 80%! & disabled people are being stranded

wheelchair accessible taxis north east. A stylized, posterized image shows a wheelchair user beside the open side door of an accessible taxi. They lean forward toward the vehicle while another person stands nearby. The wheelchair, open doorway, and part of the taxi's interior are visible, though fine details are obscured by the image's artistic effect.

Article Summary

In Middlesbrough, wheelchair-accessible taxis have dropped from 150 to just 30 in six years. An 80% fall. This means many disabled people cannot get to hospital, work, or see family. The council scraps taxis when they turn 12 years old, even if they still work well. They are thinking of changing this rule, but it's not enough. This problem is happening across the North East. We are asking MPs for: - Better driver training - A national plan with targets - Easy booking systems - One place to report issues. Share this story and tell us your taxi experiences. Disabled people have waited too long. We need action now.

If you use a wheelchair in Middlesbrough, you might not be able to get a taxi at all – Middlesbrough wheelchair-accessible taxis fallen 80%

Six years ago, there were around 150 wheelchair‑accessible hackney carriages on the road. Today, there are just 30. That’s an 80% collapse. Middlesbrough wheelchair-accessible taxis fallen 80%.

The figures came out during a council licensing committee meeting this week. Officers called it a “significant reduction” and warned that several of the remaining accessible vehicles will hit the council’s 12‑year age limit within the next year. With no replacements coming through, those vehicles will be retired, and we’ll be left with even fewer.

This isn’t about numbers though, It’s about whether you can get to a hospital appointment, visit your family, go to work, or live any kind of normal life. And at the moment, the answer for too many disabled people in Middlesbrough is: you can’t.

Middlesbrough wheelchair-accessible taxis fallen 80%. Why this is happening.

Middlesbrough Council retires accessible taxis the moment they turn 12 years old, no exceptions, no questions asked, no matter how well they’re running. It’s an arbitrary rule that’s been bleeding the fleet dry for years.

The council is now talking about changing that rule. They’re considering replacing the age limit with emissions standards, the same move some other councils have made, and maybe adding some incentives to get more accessible vehicles on the road.

It’s something. But it’s not nearly enough.

For every accessible taxi that gets a temporary extension, several more are still being lost. And right now, there’s no plan to replace them. No pipeline. No commitment. Just a committee agreeing to look at requests one by one.

Not a solution, managing decline.

We’ve spoken to disabled people across Teesside who have missed hospital appointments, turned down job offers, and stopped visiting family because they simply cannot get a taxi that fits their wheelchair. 

“…The council website lists something like six individual numbers that provide an accessible taxi. Out of those six, when we checked, two of them no longer did it any more. Two of them also don’t work after five o’clock. And you can’t pre-book a taxi.”

This is exclusion, not just inconvenience. 

This isn’t just Middlesbrough’s problem

We’ve been collecting Freedom of Information data from every council in the North East. And what we’ve found is a devastating postcode lottery.

In some areas, less than 2% of taxis are wheelchair‑accessible. In others, it’s nearly 19%. There’s no national standard, no floor, no minimum, no guarantee that if you live in one town you can get a taxi, and if you live in the next town over, you’re stranded.

“I shouldn’t have to do it with only 12 wheelchair-accessible taxis in the whole of Stockton. I should be able to, just like everybody else, want a taxi and get a taxi.”

— Difference NE member, Stockton session

Middlesbrough’s 80% collapse in six years is a warning, this is happening across the region, just at different speeds. 

We’re not just losing vehicles. We’re losing the right to move freely through our communities.

What we’re demanding

We’ve written to every MP in the North East. All 27 of them. We’re asking them to back the Transport Committee’s recommendations, and to make sure they happen.

That means:

  • Proper disability training for drivers, not a tick‑box, not a video they can click through. Training that actually teaches them how to treat disabled passengers with dignity.
  • A national plan with real money behind it, minimum targets, fixed deadlines, and consequences if councils fail. No more “we’ll look at it.” No more “we’re considering options.”
  • Booking that works for everyone, apps for people who can use them. Phone lines for people who can’t. If you can’t book, you can’t travel. And that’s not acceptable.
  • One place to report problems, not 27 different council portals, not forms you need to print and post. One accessible national complaint system.

We’re demanding not asking! Disabled people have been asking for years, and we’re still waiting.

Make this visible

Here’s what you can do right now:

Source: Teesside Live, “Number of wheelchair‑accessible taxis in Middlesbrough plummets from 150 to 30 hackney carriages”, 31 August 2026.

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