Important Note
- A licence is not required in respect of private hiring undertaken by hackney carriages
- A private hire operator's licence is required by any person making vehicles available to undertake private hire bookings. This applies to all private hire bookings where a vehicle with less than eight passenger seats is used to undertake the hiring regardless of the terminology used to define the vehicle, for example executive hire, minicab, chauffeur hire private hire etc.
- An operator's licence is also required when advertising private hire services and handing out business cards
- Private hire operators may take bookings from outside the borough where they are licensed: the licence should be obtained from the local authority for the area in which they are based
- Private hire operators may only give bookings to drivers and vehicles licensed by the local authority that issued the operators licence
- A private hire operator is required to keep records of all hirings which they accept and details of the drivers and vehicles used to undertake those hiring. These records must be keep available for inspection by authorised officers of the council at all reasonable time.
Requirements
Before applying for a licence you should read our Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Licensing Policy (see documents section below). Application fees are non-refundable.
You be a 'fit and proper person' - which means your background and character will be checked. We will look at:
- criminal record and any other relevant information
- right to work in the UK
- English language proficiency
- A operator address located in the Borough (Please note we no longer take new applications from operators that are not based in the Borough or with only 'virtual' addresses in the Borough)
After the application has been provided and verified new operators will be required to pass a suitability test - this test will be of the applicant's knowledge of local licensing policy and licence conditions.
Apply online
Our online process makes applying and renewing taxi and private hire licences quicker and easier. As part of the ongoing modernisation of our taxi and private hire licensing service, you can create an online account. This means that if you're a taxi or private hire driver, or applicant, you can apply for or renew an existing licence and track its progress during the application process.
We process all applications within specific parameters. For vehicles currently licensed, reewal applications are processed in order of their licence expiry date, to ensure continual licensing wherever possible. New applications are processed in order of the date we receive the application.
Applicants for a private hire vehicle licence will only ever be asked to pay the cost of an application, please see table below for fees. We do not offer a fast-track service and will never charge more than the advertised application costs.
Before you apply
You will need the following ready when you apply
- digital copy of your basic DBS certificate (for each partner, or director if of limited company)
- Tax check share code (If licensed as an operator before)
- digital copy of your evidence of right to work
- digital copy of your public liability insurance (if premises will be open to the public)
- card payment of the application fee (a list of fees is available in the Documents section below)
Once the application is complete and paid for we will contact you to an appointment to have the vehicle inspected at the Town Hall - please allow up to three working days for us to process your application.
