Differences in Local Councils or Licensing Authorities (LA’s)

You are probably surrounded by several LA’s depending on where you are in the country and how big your area is. LA’s can run taxi services in very different ways; So this subject should be your first port of call when doing your research. It may benefit you to work outside the council you live in (although some councils don’t allow this). Average time to get your licence is 5-8 weeks, up to 3 years for London hackney drivers. I will go more into detail on how different LA’s work and how you can capitalise on those differences in my next blog.

Your local council, also called licensing authority are the ones who will test you, check you and police you (and annoy the hell out of you at times). They give you your plate (if you are private hire) and badge and ultimately your right to work as a taxi driver.

As I have said; every Licensing authority works in a different way and the best place to find out how they work is the your local councils website. If you don’t know the web address of your licensing authority you can google it or click the link for a list of all the councils in the UK: http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Dl1/Directories/Localcouncils/index.htm

I will run through the basics requirements of your average council.

-Minimum age 21
-Licence held for at least 12 months
-MOT – This is normally an MOT specific to Taxis and can be every 6 months if your car is over 5 years old. If you plan on renting time on a hackney cab the owner should look after the MOT.
-Passport or other ID
-Drivers Licence – Got points? I will cover this in another post.
-CRB Check (Criminal records Bureau) I will cover this more in future blogs, especially for prospective drivers that have a record for whatever reason.
-Medical – The council will give you a list of doctors approved for doing these checks when you apply. (Again more on this in future blogs for drivers with medical conditions and those who don’t want to be shafted by some greedy doctors charging extortionate fees.
-Fees, Fees, Fees!!! For all of the above, everyone will charge you for everything but that’s just the way it goes.

Here are some other requirements more and more councils are introducing:

-Street knowledge test
-DVLA Mandate check
-Driving Test
-Being able to break dance. (only kidding).

As a Guide: Here is a list of fees for Hackney and Private Hire drivers in my area (Liverpool).

-Hackney carriage vehicle licence renewal: £120
-Private hire vehicle licence with plate: £130
-Street knowledge test booking fee: £20
-Drivers licence new: £6
-Drivers licence renewal: £26
-DVLA Mandate: £5
-Criminal Records Disclosure: £43.