Taxi vehicle and driver licensing

This applies to hackney carriage/private hire drivers and private hire operators for both new and renewal applications. Your right to work in the UK must be checked as part of your licence application. This could include checking your immigration status/sharing information with the Home Office. You must share your immigration status using the Home Office online checking service (opens in a new tab). 

Where this check has been carried out, the profile page confirming your right to work will be saved.

Where a manual check is carried out using original documents from list A or B group 1 and 2 (opens in a new tab), for example UK passport, the documents will be copied.

In both cases, the copies will be retained by us and kept in accordance with our licensing privacy notice (opens in a new tab). Any original documents will be returned to you.

We will not need to repeat the check when you apply to renew or extend your licence, provided we have a copy of the documents that were originally checked, and the documents were not for a time limited period. 

You will be invited to bring your original documents and any check codes to a face-to-face appointment. We will check

• photographs and dates of birth across documents and your appearance are the same.
• expiry dates for permission to be in the UK have not passed.
• any work restrictions that would stop you from holding a licence.
• that documents are genuine, have not been tampered with and belong to you.
• reasons for any difference in names across documents. For example, original marriage certificate, divorce decree absolute, deed poll.

Where there are restrictions on your right to work in the UK, a licence will only be issued (subject to statutory limitations) up to the expiry date of the permission to work. We will then check the immigration status each time an application is made. In this circumstance, a check will be repeated each time you apply to renew or extend your licence.  If, during this period, you are disqualified from holding a licence because you have not complied with the UK’s immigration laws, your licence will lapse, and you must return it to us. Failure to do so is a criminal offence.

Your application will not be considered valid until all the necessary information and any original documents have been produced.

We are required to provide information to the National Register of Taxi Licence Refusals, Revocations and Suspensions (NR3S), a mechanism for licensing authorities to share details of individuals who have had a hackney carriage or private hire driver licence revoked, or an application for one refused.

This is necessary so we, as the licensing authority, can thoroughly assess whether an individual is a fit and proper person to hold a Combined Hackney and Private Hire Driver licence. Therefore, where a combined Hackney and Private Hire Driver licence is revoked, or an application for one refused, we will automatically record this decision on NR3S. All applications for a new licence or licence renewal will automatically be checked on NR3S. If a search of NR3S indicates a match with an applicant, we will seek further information about the entry on the register from the authority who recorded it.

Any information received because of an NR3S search will only be used in respect of the specific licence application and will not be retained beyond the determination of that application.

The information recorded on NR3S itself will be limited to:

• name
• date of birth
• address and contact details
• national insurance number
• driving licence number
• decision taken
• date of decision
• date decision effective

Information will be retained on NR3S for a period of 11 years. This is a mandatory part of applying for or being granted a Combined Hackney and Private Hire Driver licence.

Information will be processed in accordance with the Data Protection Act (DPA) and General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR). Any searches, provision, or receipt of information of or under NR3S are necessary to our statutory licensing functions of ensuring that all drivers are fit and proper to hold the applicable licence. It is not intended that any NR3S data will be transferred out of the United Kingdom.

Please see our licensing privacy notice for more information on how we process your data. If you wish to raise any issue related to the data protection legislation, you can do so to our Data Protection Officer.