Hackney Carriage or Private Hire Vehicle Driver licence
Any person driving a licensed vehicle must be licensed as a hackney carriage and/or private hire vehicle driver with the Licensing Authority where they intend to work.
Licensing Authorities have a duty to establish whether the applicant is a 'fit and proper' person, so will take into account, an applicant's fitness when considering application. You are advised to read and consider the Authority’s driver policy which includes minimum requirements and the fitness criteria before proceeding with an application.
What do you need to do?
- Have the Right to work in UK. (You will need to provide proof of your right to work)
- Undertake Knowledge and Safeguarding Test via Torfaen Training.
All applicants for a Hackney Carriage or Private Hire Driver licence will need to complete a fitness/knowledge test and courses in Safeguarding and the Disability Awareness/Equality Act module for Taxi Drivers, both of which are conducted and managed by Torfaen Council Adult Community Learning. You must pass this test and attend the courses online before you can submit an application for the licence.
The knowledge test is delivered using an online platform and a Microsoft Teams call and split into these sections:
Section 1 - Basic Skills Assessment covering:
Assessment Method: Multi choice online.
These are nationally recognised benchmark tests to establish the level of adult literacy and numeracy.
Section 2 - Verbal communication
Assessment Method: One to One Teams call oral test – you will receive an email booking you into this and on an agreed date/time you will need to press the join now in the email.
This section is designed to test taxi route and local knowledge, the policy and random checks on Disability/Equality Act and Safeguarding.
Section 3 - Testing understanding of Caerphilly Council’s policies, conditions, and vehicle inspection standards.
Assessment Method: Multichoice online test.
Candidates will sit a multichoice online test.
Section 4 - Highway code check
Assessment Method: Multichoice online test.
Candidates will sit a multichoice online test.
Section 5 - Safeguarding Course
Assessment Method: Multichoice online test.
Candidates complete an online module and will sit a multichoice online test.
Candidates must spend a minimum time on course.
Section 6 - Disability/Equality Act and Safeguarding.
Assessment Method: Quizzes are part of course and checked as part of policy and oral test.
Candidates complete and online module and must spend a minimum time on course.
The safeguarding course will take no more two hours to complete and provides useful information and advice on the protection of children and vulnerable people.
If you are thinking of taking the test and attending the course you must first contact Torfaen ACL on 01633 875929 for the necessary information and instructions. You will then need to contact Torfaen ACL again to book your place.
On the day of the test and the course you will be required to:
- Pay the test fee of £60 and course fee of £35 by card.
- Produce two forms of identification, one of which must be a photographic ID. Tests and Teams video call will not be allowed without identification.
- You will be given three days to complete the elements
On successfully passing the test and attending the course you can then contact Caerphilly Licensing Section to request a licence application pack. You will be required to produce the Torfaen Training Pass Card and certificate when you submit your application.
Apply online
You will need to register with Caerphilly Connect in order to complete the application. Please note that you will be required to upload, Right to Work and Identification documents. Please note that one of these documents must be your current DVLA Licence.
You should complete this application accurately and honestly, paying particular attention to questions concerning name and/ or address changes, periods of residence, conviction information and medical circumstances.
What happens after submission?
Upon submission of an application, an Officer will contact you in order for you to pay for and complete an Enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service check (DBS) for the role of a taxi driver, in Caerphilly CBC. Please note, there is a non- returnable fee of £40.00 payable for this process. Whilst the majority of checks are completed within a few weeks, we have no control over the timescales following submission to the DBS.
Following the receipt of the DBS result, you will be advised on the next steps.
Pay your DBS fee
Medical
The council has to ensure an applicant / licence holder is medically fit. In order to ensure this applicants’ are required to undertake the Council’s Group 2 Medical. This is a medical completed by your own GP or a GP who has access to your full medical history. The fees for such medicals are payable to the Practice directly by the applicant, the cost for which will be determined by your Practice. You should not obtain a medical until advised to do so, in order to avoid unnecessary costs being incurred.
If there are no fitness (Including medical fitness) concerns, it is likely that a driver licence will be granted. However, if there are any concerns identified during the application process, your application could be referred to a Taxi & General Sub Committee for determination.
Information to assist applicants
Immigration Requirements Licensing authorities are now under a duty to undertake immigration checks on all applicants for hackney carriage and private hire vehicle drivers and private hire vehicle operators.
In addition to relevant checks to establish whether a person is a’ fit and proper’ person, local authorities are not able to grant a driver or operator’s licence unless they are satisfied an applicant has the right to remain and work in the United Kingdom.
Whilst local authorities are able to grant such licences to persons who are subject to immigration control and only have a limited time to remain in the UK, they can only be granted for a specified period and that period must end at or before the period of permission to remain. Licences will automatically lapse where the immigration status changes and the licence holder becomes ineligible to lawfully reside and work in the UK. Any person who does not return their licence will be committing an offence.
Any applicant for a driver or operator’s licence will be required to produce original copies of prescribed documents to prove their immigration and right to work status. The Council will be required to keep copies of the original documents they have seen and may check an applicant’s immigration status and share information with the Home Office.
Overseas criminal history checks
The Local Authority recognises that the DBS disclosure will only provide information in respect of the time the applicant has resided in the UK.
In such circumstances and where there is a need to check any potential criminal record, which will also include persons who have spent more than 6 months living outside the UK, since their tenth birthday, the LA will require the applicant to provide a Certificate of Good Conduct from the Embassy of the country in which they were residing.
Certificates of Good Conduct which are in a language other than English will be required to be translated into English at the applicant’s expense by an independent translation service and the translation must be verified.
Tax conditionality
Licensing authorities must get an applicant's confirmation that they're aware of their tax responsibilities on first-time licence applications for taxi and private hire vehicle drivers. You will need to register yourself with HMRC for tax purposes.
Equality Act 2010
Licensed drivers of taxis and private hire vehicles are under a duty to carry passengers with guide, hearing and other assistance dogs and drivers of designated wheelchair accessible vehicles to assist passengers in wheelchairs. If you have any medical grounds which could prevent you from carrying out these duties, you will also need to submit an application for medical exemption together with a statement of fitness completed by your own doctor. The Council will then consider whether an exemption notice should be given to the driver. Drivers are expected to have knowledge in the safe methods of conveying disabled persons, wheelchair bound or not.
Applying to Renew your licence?
All Driver licences have an expiry date. This is detailed upon your driver badge and paper part. Whilst the Authority will endeavour to issue a reminder in advance of the expiry. It is expected that drivers seeking to renew their licence, will submit an application to renew in good time to allow the application to be determined prior to the licence expiry date.
Drivers are reminded of the requirement to maintain their subscription to the DBS Update Service. Failure to do so will mean that drivers will need to resubmit a new DBS disclosure application, which may delay your renewal and could affect your ability to drive for hire and reward.
Fees
Visit our licence fee webpage for further information.