Overview
You must hold a valid licence issued by us if you wish to drive a taxi.
You can apply for a licence to drive a hackney carriage or a private hire vehicle:
- hackney carriage vehicles can ply for hire on the streets and can use the taxi ranks around Thurrock
- private hire vehicles can be booked for hire by the public through a licensed private hire operator – private hire vehicles cannot ply for hire and cannot use taxi ranks
Types of licence
You can apply for the following licence types:
- hackney carriage driver licence
- private hire driver licence
- combined licence – hackney carriage driver and private hire driver
- restricted private hire driver licence – for school contracts only
Requirements
To qualify as a driver you must:
- be aged 21 or over
- have the right to work in the UK
- hold a full DVLA driving licence, or equivalent, for at least 3 years
- complete a GOV.UK: HMRC tax check for taxi and private hire drivers
- submit a fully completed application form
- pay the licence fee
- be subject to an Enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check or be signed up to the GOV.UK: DBS update service – you will be required to join this service after your initial application
- have been checked against the National Anti-fraud Network (NAFN) database on refusals and revocations of hackney carriage and private hire licences
- have met our medical fitness criteria, in line with the DVLA Group 2 standard
- have met our safeguarding and child sexual exploitation awareness training criteria
- have met our approved disability awareness training requirements
- have met our language proficiency requirements
- have passed our 'knowledge test'
Details of standards, criteria and other requirements in the list above are included in our taxi licensing policy at the end of this page.
If, from the age of 10 years-old, you have spent 6 months or more continuously living outside the UK, then criminal record information or a 'Certificate of Good Character' from overseas must be provided.
Restricted private hire driver licences
A restricted private hire driver licence – or 'restricted licence' – is a private hire driver licence restricted by a licence condition for use on school transport contracts only. No other private hire journeys are permitted at any time by the licence holder.
Applications for restricted licences will be processed the same way as a private hire driver licence applications. They will be subject to the same checks and training requirements except for:
- the Passenger Assistant Training Scheme (PATS) will be replaced with an online Taxi Safeguarding Classroom Course and an online Disability Awareness Classroom Course
- the 'knowledge test' will not include routes or places of interest, numeracy, or other knowledge that doesn't relate to school contract work
Licences issued
You can check whether a hackney carriage or private hire driver is licensed with us.
Policy and conditions
Policies and conditions relating to hackney carriage and private hire driver's licences.