Two weeks, step by step
- 1
Days 1-2: the business and the rules
Your licence conditions, your fares, your areas and accounts, data protection, and what must be recorded for every booking.
- 2
Days 3-4: taking bookings
Phone script, addresses that are easy to get wrong, account bookings, pre-bookings and repeat trips, with a trainer listening.
- 3
Days 5-6: the console
Reading the live map and job board, how jobs are offered to drivers, manual assignment and re-assignment.
- 4
Days 7-8: exceptions
No-shows, late or early flights, breakdowns, lost property, complaints and when to escalate.
- 5
Days 9-10: safety and live shifts
Driver SOS alerts and incidents, then full shifts with the trainer beside them and a sign-off checklist.
What does a taxi dispatcher do?
Takes bookings, gets each job to the right driver on time, watches the fleet for problems, deals with exceptions and keeps the records the licence requires. In a busy office the job is mostly judgement: when to override the system, and when to call a passenger.
Which booking records must dispatch keep?
Whatever the council requires, which almost always includes the pick-up point, destination, pick-up time and passenger name: in the DfT's 2026 survey 286, 285, 280 and 279 of 289 councils required these, and 206 also required the name of the dispatcher.[1]
Does a taxi dispatcher need a DBS check?
In many council areas, yes: 187 of 289 councils required operators' booking and dispatch staff to be DBS-checked in 2026. Check your own licence conditions before the trainee starts.[1]
How do you know a new dispatcher is ready?
When they can run a full shift with the trainer only watching: every booking recorded completely, no job left unassigned past its time, exceptions handled or escalated correctly, and calls handled politely under pressure.
In TaxiDex the audit trail shows who changed what on every booking, which makes reviewing a trainee's shift quick. Job description: taxi dispatcher.
Frequently asked questions
Do taxi dispatchers need a licence?
There is no separate dispatcher licence in England and Wales, but many councils require DBS checks for operators' booking and dispatch staff (187 of 289 in 2026).
How long does it take to train a taxi dispatcher?
Two weeks is enough to cover the job and supervise live shifts; confidence on busy nights takes longer.
Sources
Fees and rules change. Each source is the official page we read, with the date we read it; check it before you apply or pay.