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Licence - Private Hire Operators'

The Licensing Team is responsible for the licensing and setting of conditions for private hire vehicle operators to ensure the person responsible for supplying vehicles and drivers are ‘fit and proper’ persons.

Anyone wishing to start a taxi business, and intending to provide private hire vehicles, or a combination of private hire vehicles and hackney carriages, requires an operators licence.

Wherever you intend to operate the business from, you may require planning permission from the Council's planning department, for which there is a fee, and landlord's consent if you rent the premises. 

The application fee for an operator's licence is £80 and valid for one year.  To determine whether a licence can be granted, a criminal record check must be carried out, for which there is also a fee payable.  If a licence is granted, it will be subject to conditions, e.g. records must be kept of all bookings, records must be made available for six months and be produced, on demand, to an officer of the Council or a police officer.

A criminal record check will be required every three years.