SERU pass mark and SERU pass rate
Nearly half of private hire drivers fail the SERU. Here is every number TfL has actually published, which assessment each one belongs to, and the day we read it.
The pass rate
From 1 October 2025 to 2 April 2026, 54 percent of private hire drivers passed the SERU. The average score was 64 out of 100.
Over the same months, 94 percent of taxi drivers passed, with an average score of 88.
So a private hire driver walking in has close to an even chance of walking out again with nothing. A taxi driver has almost none of that risk. Same name, very different paper.
Source: TfL freedom of information answer 4884 2526, reported by TaxiPoint on 10 April 2026. TfL has not put these numbers on its own website.
The pass mark, and which assessment it belongs to
TfL Notice 06/25, dated 2 September 2025, is about the taxi driver assessment. It says the assessment lasts approximately one hour, there are 36 questions in total, and the pass mark is 60 percent.
The TfL private hire SERU page, read on 7 October 2026, gives no pass mark. It gives no question count. It gives no time limit. It spends one sentence on the shape of the paper, and this is that sentence. It will involve multiple choice questions and completing sentences by adding missing words.
TfL calls the two assessments similar. They are still two separate assessments, with separate notices and separate fees. So when another site tells you the private hire pass mark is 60 percent, that figure has been lifted off the taxi notice. It may well be right. TfL has not said it.
Read from TfL Notice 06/25 and from the TfL private hire SERU page on 7 October 2026.
What we mark you against
Our timed mock marks you against 75 percent. That is our own figure and it is stricter than the 60 percent in the taxi notice. We set it high on purpose, because the only cheap place to fail is here.
Ten questions, no sign up, scored on the spot. Full access is £0.99, one payment. The SERU assessment itself is £40 and a resit is £30, from the TfL licensing page read on 7 October 2026.
How to pass, in words TfL has published
- It is not a memory test.TfL Notice 01/24, dated 17 January 2024, says the SERU is not and has never intended to be a memory test. So learning the handbook by heart is not the job. Understanding it, and finding things in it quickly, is.
- Read the handbook before the day.This is what TfL Notice 06/25 says about the taxi assessment. A copy of the handbook is provided during the assessment and can be referred to as needed. However, drivers are expected to have read and understood the handbook in advance. TfL has published no such line for private hire, so do not count on having the book in front of you.
- The English requirement is a second assessment.TfL Notice 01/24 describes an English Language Requirement, the ELR, as a separate assessment drivers must also pass, with drivers put into groups by deadline, Group 1 to Group 4. Passing the SERU on its own is not the end of it.
- Practise the shape, not just the facts.Not all of it is multiple choice. See what the SERU questions look like.
Questions drivers ask
- What is the SERU pass mark?
- TfL Notice 06/25, dated 2 September 2025, says the taxi driver assessment has 36 questions and a pass mark of 60 percent. The TfL private hire SERU page, read on 7 October 2026, gives no pass mark at all. So there is no published private hire pass mark to quote.
- What is the SERU pass rate?
- 54 percent for private hire drivers and 94 percent for taxi drivers, over 1 October 2025 to 2 April 2026. From TfL freedom of information answer 4884 2526, reported by TaxiPoint on 10 April 2026.
- Is the SERU a memory test?
- TfL Notice 01/24, dated 17 January 2024, says the SERU is not and has never intended to be a memory test.
- What pass mark does this site use?
- 75 percent, which is stricter than the 60 percent TfL published for the taxi assessment. It is our own figure and not a TfL one.
Every figure on this page is named with its source and the date it was read, because TfL changes its pages and its fees without telling anybody. Check the official TfL SERU page before you book.