How to pass SERU

What SERU is, and why it exists

SERU came in on 1 October 2021 and has applied to all new applicants since 1 April 2023. It is computer-based and sat at a TfL office. TfL's reason for it is short: London PHV drivers need "an appropriate understanding of safety, equality and regulatory requirements that apply to them".

It was created by the Private Hire Vehicles (London PHV Driver's Licences) (Amendment) Regulations 2021, which matters more than it sounds, because the regulations also fix the syllabus.

The part most drivers miss: SERU is also your English test

Applicants have to show English at CEFR level B1 across reading, writing, speaking and listening. Speaking and listening is a separate assessment, a short conversation with TfL's provider. Reading and writing is not separate. Regulation 3A(4)(b) makes SERU itself the reading and writing test.

So SERU marks two things at once: whether you know the rules, and whether you can read a question and write an answer in English. That is why drivers who know the trade inside out still fail it, and it is the single best argument for preparing with the written Handbook rather than with videos alone.

The syllabus is one document

Regulation 3C(4) names it: the London PHV Driver's Handbook, version 1.0, dated 30 September 2021. That is the examinable material. The Handbook has never been revised, so the version you download today is the version the regulations point at.

The six areas TfL assesses, and where each one lives in the Handbook:

• Your obligations under the Private Hire Vehicles (London) Act 1998, its regulations and the Equality Act 2010
• TfL policies and guidance that apply to London PHV drivers
• Passengers with protected characteristics, including assistance dogs and wheelchair users, and what you must do rather than what you would prefer to do
• Safeguarding children and adults at risk, Handbook section 9
• Passenger and driver safety, Handbook sections 4 and 10
• Road and vehicle safety, Handbook sections 6 and 7, which covers bus lanes, red routes and parking

There is no London geography in SERU. No routes, no landmarks, no navigation. Geography is the topographical assessment, which is a different test on a different day. Search the Handbook for "geography" and you get nothing.

What TfL publishes about the format

Two sentences, and no more. The assessment "is computer-based and it is delivered by TfL staff at TfL offices", and it "will involve multiple choice questions and completing sentences by adding missing words". TfL says the rest is explained once your booking is confirmed.

That second part, completing sentences by adding missing words, is where the English requirement bites hardest, and it is the section drivers most often say caught them out.

The numbers TfL does publish

• £40 for your first attempt, £30 for a resit. These went up from £36 and £16 on 9 March 2026 (TPH Notice 05/26). Most pages you will find still quote the old figures, which is a quick way to judge how stale a site is.
• Normally three attempts. TfL's driver licensing policy v5.0, dated 20 March 2026, says new PHV applicants are normally allowed three attempts. Plenty of sources still say two, because that was the old policy.
• A 69% pass rate, from a TfL freedom of information release covering October 2021 to October 2022. Read that carefully: it counts candidates, including people who passed on a later attempt. Per sitting the figure is closer to 57%, so roughly two in five sittings fail. TfL has published nothing more recent.

The numbers nobody outside TfL knows

TfL does not publish the number of questions in the PHV SERU, the pass mark, the time allowed, or whether you can refer to the Handbook during it. Not on the SERU page, not in the driver policy, not in the Handbook, not in any notice.

You will still see "36 questions, 60% pass mark, about an hour, open book" repeated everywhere. Those figures are real, but they belong to the taxi driver SERU, which TfL published separately, and they have been copied across to PHV pages by people who did not check. A second trap sits on TfL's own page: it mentions "over 36 knowledge check questions", and that describes the free online revision guide, not the assessment.

On open book, TfL said in Notice 01/24 that it intended to trial letting drivers refer to the Handbook during the assessment. It has never published the outcome for PHV. Treat it as unresolved and prepare as though it is closed book.

How to prepare, free

Everything below is published by TfL at no cost. We link to it rather than hosting copies, for reasons set out further down.

If you need a reasonable adjustment, for dyslexia or a disability, ask TfL when you book rather than on the day. The process is on the official page above.

How to pass it first time

• Answer from the Handbook, not from experience. TfL has said plainly that SERU "is not and has never intended to be a memory test", but the marked answer is the one the Handbook gives. Where your working habits differ from the Handbook, the Handbook wins.
• Read the Handbook in English, in writing. You are being marked on reading and writing as well as knowledge, so listening to a summary is not equivalent.
• Drill the missing-word sections by writing key duties out in full. Spelling and word choice carry marks that knowledge alone will not save.
• Learn the assistance dog duties exactly. Refusing an assistance dog is both an offence and a licensing matter, and it is precisely the kind of duty the Equality Act limb tests.
• Do not memorise a third-party question bank. TfL changes questions and publishes none, so anything sold as "real SERU questions" is either invented or scraped, and it teaches you the wrong thing either way.

Why we do not host TfL's PDFs here

We looked at mirroring the Handbook and the notices on our own server, and decided against it for two reasons.

The first is permission. TfL's website terms say its material "may not be printed, copied, reproduced, republished, downloaded, posted, displayed, modified, reused, broadcast or transmitted in any way, except for your own personal non-commercial use", and that you must get TfL's permission for anything else. Those terms expressly do allow plain text links, which is what we use. Some prep sites host the Handbook anyway. That is a choice they have made, not a licence they hold.

The second reason matters more to you. A copy on our server is a copy that can go out of date without anyone noticing, and out-of-date licensing guidance is worse than none. The links above always give you the current file.

Booking, and what comes next

You book and pay through your TfL Taxi and Private Hire portal account. TfL publishes a step-by-step booking guide if the portal is new to you. Slots are held briefly while you pay.

SERU is one of several steps. The full sequence, with every 2026 fee, is in our guide to getting a PCO licence in London, and the other assessment is covered in the topographical guide. Short answers to the common questions are in the driver FAQs.

Once you are licensed and looking for a car, our fleet is executive saloons on one weekly price, and the Uber approved cars list shows what each platform will take.

Legal note

This page explains TfL's published requirements and is not legal advice or an official TfL publication. Blackties is not affiliated with or endorsed by Transport for London. TfL sets and may change these requirements, so check the official SERU page before you book.