Hackney carriage driver licence conditions

Standard conditions to the issue of a hackney carriage driver licence

(These notes are for guidance only and are not a complete summary of the Act)

Convictions

1a. The licensee shall notify Woking Borough Council in writing of any conviction recorded against him/her by any Court within seven days of such conviction being imposed.

1b. The licensee shall within 42 days of the date of an offence, notify the Council in writing of any Fixed Penalty imposed upon him/her which results in an endorsement on his/her UK Driver Licence.

Drivers

2. The licensee shall not cause or procure or permit any other person to drive a hackney carriage vehicle of which he/she is in charge except with the consent of the proprietor of the vehicle.

Fitness and stability

3a. Drivers to undergo a medical examination by their own doctors every five years up to the age of 60 and annually thereafter.

3b. Drivers applying to be licensed or re-licensed after a period of disqualification must have held a “clean” DVLA Licence for at least a year after disqualification.

Personal conduct

4. The licensee shall at all times when the vehicle is available or being driven for hire be clean and respectable in his dress and person, shall behave in an orderly manner and conduct himself with civility and propriety towards every person seeking to hire, or hiring or being conveyed in the vehicle.

5. The licensee shall not, except with the express consent of the hirer, smoke, drink or eat in the vehicle.

6. The licensee shall not, except with the express consent of the hirer, play any radio or sound reproducing equipment in the vehicle other than for communicating with the operator.

7. The licensee shall at no time cause or permit the noise emitted by any radio equipment or any sound reproducing equipment installed in the private hire vehicle to be a source of nuisance or annoyance to any persons whether inside or outside the vehicle.

8. The licensee, when hired to drive to any particular destination shall, subject to any directions given by the hirer, proceed to that destination by the shortest practicable route.

9. The licensee shall not, except with the express consent of the hirer, convey any person other than the hirer in the hackney carriage vehicle.

10. The licensee of a hackney carriage vehicle who has agreed or has been hired to be in attendance with a vehicle at an appointed time and place shall, unless delayed or prevented by some sufficient cause, punctually attend with the hackney carriage vehicle at such appointed time and place.

11. The licensee shall afford all reasonable assistance with passengers’ luggage and comply with the reasonable request of passengers in vehicle.

12. The licensee shall not use mobile phone whilst driving.

Identification plates

13. The licensee shall not conceal either the exterior identification plate of the hackney carriage vehicle or the details painted or marked thereon, or the interior display of the hackney carriage vehicle licence numbers from public view, and will keep the identification plate and the display in a clean condition.

Licence

14. The licensee shall deposit his hackney carriage driving licence issued by the Council with the private hire operator for which the vehicle is being used during the time it is so used for that operator.

Hirer's property

15. The licensee shall immediately after the termination of any hiring or as soon as practicable thereafter carefully search the hackney carriage vehicle for any property which may accidentally have been left therein.

16. The licensee of a hackney carriage vehicle shall if any property is accidentally left therein by any person who may have been conveyed in the vehicle and be found by or handed to him carry it, as soon as possible and in any event within 24 hours if not sooner claimed by or on behalf of its owner, to a Police Station in the district in order to receive instructions from the Police regarding its custody.

Passengers

17. The licensee shall at all times when a vehicle is hired take all reasonable steps to ensure the safety of passengers conveyed therein and persons entering and alighting from the vehicle.

18. The licensee shall allow only one passenger to be carried in the front of the vehicle beside the driver.

19. The licensee shall not permit a hackney carriage vehicle to carry a greater number of passengers than the number prescribed in the licence; for the purpose of this condition two children under the age of ten shall be counted as one person insofar as the rear seating is concerned.

20. The licensee shall not allow any child under the age of 10 years to be conveyed in the front of the vehicle without the prior written consent of an Authorised Officer of the Council.

Guide/assistance dogs

21. The driver must carry any passenger accompanied by a guide/assistance dog.

Change of address

22. The licensee shall notify the Council in writing of any change of his/her address within seven days of such change taking place.

Receipts

23. The licensee shall, if requested by the hirer, provide him/her with a written receipt for the fare paid.

Fares

24. The licensee shall not demand a fare in excess of that prescribed by the fare table issued by the Council unless previously agreed between the hirer and the operator at the time of booking (for journeys outside the Borough only).

Taximeters

25. If the vehicle being driven is fitted with a taximeter:

(a) The licensee shall not cause the fare recorded thereon to be cancelled until the hirer has had a reasonable opportunity of examining it and has paid the fare.

(b) The licensee shall ensure that when the vehicle is not hired the key is to be locked and machinery kept inactive and the meter must show no fare at that time.

(c) The licensee shall ensure that the taximeter is sufficiently illuminated that when in use it is visible to all passengers.

(d) The licensee shall ensure that the fare or charge shall be calculated from the point in the District at which the hirer commences his journey and shall not exceed that displayed on the taximeter at the completion of his journey.

(e) The licensee shall ensure that the taximeter is only brought into action at the commencement of the hirer’s journey.

Fare tables

26. The licensee shall ensure that the fare table is not concealed from view or rendered illegible while the vehicle is being used for hire.

Touting, ETC.

27. The licensee shall not while driving or in charge of a private hire vehicle:

(a) Tout or solicit on a road or other public place any person to hire or be carried for hire in any private hire vehicle, or

(b) Cause or procure any other person to tout or solicit on a road or other public place any person to hire or be carried for hire in any private hire vehicle. In this condition:

“road” means “any highway and any other road to which the public has access including bridges over which a road passes”.

Cheques

28. A licence in respect of which the licence fee has been paid by cheque shall not be effective until the cheque has been cleared.