New Private hire vehicle licences

Applying for a New Private Hire Vehicle Licence

If you have not worked in the private hire industry before it is advised that you do not licence a vehicle, or purchase a vehicle to be licensed, until you have been granted a licence to drive private hire vehicles. Do not purchase a vehicle unless you are certain it meets our vehicle requirements stated below.

New vehicle licence

You will need to provide copies of the following documents:

  • Vehicle Logbook V5C
  • MOT and Certificate of compliance issued in the 14 days prior to your application.
  • Insurance for private hire and reward.

You may also need:

  • A Basic DBS disclosure if you are not a licensed driver
  • A letter from the owner of the vehicle if it is not yours.

IMPORTANT

When applying online you must state the day that you want to collect your plate. This must be 10 working days after your application. You may include a note that you want to collect your plate earlier, which we will try and meet, but this is not guaranteed.

If a licence is granted you must ensure compliance with our vehicle licence conditions.

Vehicle licence conditions

Vehicle requirements

It is your responsibility to check that the vehicle meets our requirements and should read our policy for full vehicle specifications.

Vehicle specifications

New private hire vehicles should be:

  1. Less than 6 years of age
  2. Have at least 4 passenger seats and 4 Doors
  3. Have tyres with 3mm of tread depth at the time of test
  4. Seat no more than 8 passengers
  5. Meet the Euro 6 Emissions criteria

We will not licence a vehicle that has been written off by an insurance company, regardless of the reasons.

Private hire vehicles may not have a roof sign, meter or anything that indicates it is a hackney carriage.