Private hire driver licence conditions

Standard conditions attached to the issue of a priavte hire 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.

Personal conduct

2. 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.

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

4. 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.

5. 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.

6. 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.

7. The licensee shall not, except with the express consent of the hirer, convey any person other than the hirer in the private hire vehicle.

8. The licensee 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 private hire vehicle at such appointed time and place.

9. The licensee shall afford all reasonable assistance with passengers’ luggage and comply with reasonable requests of passengers in vehicle.

10. The licensee must not use a mobile phone whilst driving.

Identification plates

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

Licence

12. The licensee shall deposit his private hire 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.

Animals

13. The licensee shall not permit any animal to ride in the vehicle except an animal in the custody or control of the hirer which animal shall be conveyed in the rear of the vehicle.

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

Hirer's property

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

16. The licensee 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 private hire 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 10 shall be counted as one person insofar as the rear seating only is concerned.

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

Change of address

21. The licensee shall notify the Council in writing of any change of his/her address within 14 days of such change taking place.

22. The licensee shall notify the Council in writing of any illness or injury affecting his/her fitness to drive in any way.

Receipts

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

Touting ETC.

24. 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”.

Drivers licences

25a. Drivers to undergo a medical examination by their own doctors every five years up to the age of 60 and annually thereafter.

25b. Drivers applying to be licensed or re-licensed after a period of disqualification must have held a “clean” DVLA drivers licence for at least a year after disqualification.

25c. This Licence must be produced within five days at the request of an authorised Officer of the Council or of a Police Officer (Section 53).

25d. The driver must at all times when acting under this licence wear the driver’s badge issued by the Council in such position and manner as to be plainly visible.

25e. The driver shall at all times comply with the instructions of the Council or their authorised Officer concerning any matter relating to his occupation as a private hire vehicle driver.

Cheques

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