Operator licence
You will need an operator licence if you accept bookings for private hire vehicles.
Customers must book private hire vehicles (minicabs) in advance, and can't flag them down on the street.
Drivers that you pass work to need to have a driver licence, and their vehicle needs to have a private hire vehicle licence.
The same authority needs to issue the operator licence, the driver licence and the private hire vehicle licence.
You will also need to have completed a tax check.
To operate in Chelmsford, all three of the licences need to be from us. Therefore, if you have an operator’s licence from us, you can only pass work to a vehicle and driver that we have licensed.
To apply for an operator licence, you must:
- sign in or register for an account
- complete the application
- agree to the declaration
- pay the relevant fee
The application fees are:
- £796 if you are taking bookings for up to three vehicles
- £2,783 if you are taking bookings for four or more vehicles
You must also complete a basic DBS check for each director or partner (unless you are a licensed driver and signed up to the DBS update service).
What happens next
Once we receive your application, we will:
- acknowledge it within three working days
- notify you of our decision within 28 days
Your operator licence will be valid for five years from the date we granted it.
You need to renew your licence every five years, before the current licence expires.
To apply to re-licence, you must:
- sign in or register for an account
- complete the application form
- pay the relevant application fee
You must also complete a basic DBS check for each director or partner (unless you are a licensed driver and signed up to the DBS update service).
The application fees are:
- £796 if you are taking bookings for up to three vehicles
- £2,783 if you are taking bookings for four or more vehicles
What happens next
Once we receive your renewal application, we will notify you of our decision.
Private hire operators must keep a written record of all bookings. These must show:
- the time of the booking
- the name of the customer
- the pick up point
- the destination
- details of the driver
Private hire operators that we have licensed, must have a manned base within the Chelmsford District. We may inspect the records at this base.
Operators must have an ex-offender policy in place. They must also ensure that those employed by them to take bookings and deploy vehicles have taken a basic DBS check. We may request a copy of the policy and inspect copies of DBS checks.
If the holder of an operator licence is not already a licensed driver with us, then they must provide a yearly basic DBS certificate.
If the proposed holder of an operator licence is a limited company, then all directors and partners must provide a yearly basic DBS certificate.
We do not regulate the fare you can charge your customers. You should agree the fare with the customer when they make their booking.
You will also need to complete a tax check. The tax check will ask questions about how you pay any tax on income you earn from your operator licence.
After you have completed the tax check, you will receive a nine-character tax check code.
You will need to give the code to us when applying for your licence, so we can confirm you have carried out a tax check.
Find out what you need to do before you can renew your licence on GOV.UK.