Private Hire Operators Licence

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Applying for a Private Hire Operators Licence

To apply for a Private Hire operator’s licence you need to contact the Licensing Department to discuss your intended application.

After the initial enquiry with the Licensing Department, you will be advised to contact the Planning Department at Hyndburn Borough Council, who will discuss your intended business address.

On approval of the intended business address from the Planning Department, you may then submit to the Licensing Department the following documents:

  • A completed Private Hire Operator Licence application form.  To see more about how we record and store your information please view the Council’s privacy notice.
  • The current Private Hire Operator Licence fee
  • If not currently a licensed driver with Hyndburn Borough Council, a completed Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) application form with 3 forms of identification for a basic disclosure check to be performed.  Please see DBS website for information on IDs that can be produced.
  • Valid planning consent from the Planning Department.
  • A valid Public and Employers Liability Insurance Certificate
  • A template of your company door signs
  • Proof of right to live and work in the UK for each person named on the application, such as a passport or a residence permit.
  • Policy on employing ex-offenders (please read below)
  • It is the duty of all operators to ensure that the staff they employ to work in their operating office are suitable to do so and are not persons who may abuse their position to take advantage of any member of the public.  Operators are in receipt of certain information such as the details when a property will be left empty for a period of time, and details of customers’ phone numbers. For that reason it is paramount that the person receiving the information is honest and trustworthy and would not either abuse the information themselves or pass the information on to unscrupulous persons who may use the information to their own advantage. The holder of the operator’s licence must ensure that all persons employed by them to despatch vehicles has produced to them a basic criminal record check.  Whilst the Council acknowledges that we are not in a position to dictate to an operator who should be working for them, a very serious view will be taken of any operator that does not ensure that the staff that they employ are honest and trustworthy and have not been convicted of any serious offence. This could cause the ‘fitness and propriety of the operator to be brought into question and could lead the Council to consider whether the operator’s licence should be suspended or revoked.Private hire operators will be required to produce a policy on employing ex-offenders. The policy should be in line with the Councils adopted policy; Determining the Suitability of Applicants and Licensees in the Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Trade, and the convictions policy therein.   The guidance is set out at appendix 1 to this policy.   This is to ensure that everyone working within the operator’s base is suitable to decide who is sent to carry a child or vulnerable adult unaccompanied in a car. Existing private hire operators will be required to deliver their policy to the Council within 6 months of this policy coming into force.  All new applicants will be required to produce the policy before a licence will be granted.

Failure to produce any of the above documents will cause a delay as your application will not be accepted.

The Council will refuse your application or take action in relation to an existing licence if:-

  • The premises nominated does not have valid planning consent or, proof that consent has been given, or there is a breach of planning conditions
  • The nominated premises are not located within the area covered by Hyndburn Borough Council
  • You are not in day to day control of the business
  • You have ever previously held a Private Hire/Hackney Carriage Licence that has been revoked or refused
  • You lack knowledge of the Private Hire trade and are unaware of the licence conditions
  • You have not produced all documents/information requested by the Licensing Department
  • You have exhibited behavior which in the opinion of the Authority is inconsistent with that expected of a Hyndburn Borough Council licence holder
  • The full fee has not been paid

Once the Private Hire Operator Licence has been approved, the licence is valid for a period of 1 or 5 years, whichever has been applied and paid for.

The licensed operator shall adhere to the operator licence conditions which includes keeping and maintaining at all times for a period of not less than six months, a record of hiring showing the particulars of every booking of a Hackney Carriage/Private Hire vehicle, including any booking accepted at the request of another operator.  The operator shall enter in a suitable bound book of which the pages are numbered consecutively or on a computer database detailing the following information:

  • The date and time of each booking
  • The name and address of the hirer
  • The method which the booking was received  (i.e. telephone/in person/on-line bookings)
  • The dates, time and place of the commencement of each hiring
  • The journey, from and to
  • The vehicle licence number and the driver call-sign