Private hire operator licences in England

What is a private hire operator?

A private hire operator is the business that accepts bookings for private hire vehicles (PHVs) and dispatches drivers to them. A PHV can only be pre-booked. A taxi, also called a hackney carriage, can also be hailed in the street or hired at a rank. That difference is why private hire needs an operator in the middle: every journey starts as a booking with a licensed operator.

The operator licence is one of three. The driver needs a PHV driver licence and the car needs a PHV vehicle licence. Outside London, GOV.UK says all three must be issued by the same licensing authority.

Who issues a private hire operator licence?

Each council publishes its own application process, fees and licence conditions. In London, TfL's fee depends on how many vehicles you have available to take bookings; its operator licence page lists the bands.

What does the licensing authority check?

Both Acts say the authority must be satisfied that the applicant is a fit and proper person. In practice that means checks on your background and how you will run the business. The Department for Transport's statutory standards expect operators to have a basic DBS check every year.

A licence lasts up to five years. The Deregulation Act 2015 made five years the standard, and the authority can set a shorter period. Councils outside London add their own conditions, for example on how you keep records. Read yours: they are part of the licence.

What records must a private hire operator keep?

Every operator must record each booking before the journey starts. What goes in the record depends on where you are licensed.

In London

Regulation 11 of the Operators' Licences Regulations 2000 requires, for each booking:

• the date of the booking
• the customer's name
• the pickup time and place, and the main destination
• any fare quoted
• the driver and the vehicle
• any operator the booking was subcontracted to

Since 1 July 2024, TfL also expects each record to show who took the booking, who dispatched it, the driver's PHV licence number and the vehicle registration. Records are kept for 12 months. The copy of the 2000 Regulations on legislation.gov.uk still shows the original six months; TfL's consolidated text has the current rule.

Outside London

Section 56 of the 1976 Act requires you to record the details your council asks for, in the form it asks for, before each journey starts. The Act sets no retention period, so it comes from your licence conditions. The statutory standards suggest keeping booking records for at least six months.

Do I need a register of booking and dispatch staff?

In London, yes. Since 1 July 2024 TfL requires operators to keep a register of everyone who takes bookings or dispatches vehicles, with their full name, date of birth, DBS certificate number and the date of the last check. Each person needs a basic DBS check, and you need a policy on employing ex-offenders. The register is kept for 12 months like booking records. A fully automated system still keeps one, marked as not applicable.

Outside London, the statutory standards say operators should keep a register of booking and dispatch staff and see a basic DBS check for each. Check whether your council has made it a licence condition.

Can I pass a booking to another operator?

Yes. Outside London, section 55A of the 1976 Act, added by the Deregulation Act 2015, lets an operator pass a booking to another operator licensed in the same district, in another district, in London, or in Scotland. Record the subcontracting with the booking. In London, the booking record includes any operator the job was subcontracted to.

What changed in 2022, and what is coming?

The Taxis and Private Hire Vehicles (Safeguarding and Road Safety) Act 2022 requires licensing authorities to record driver licence refusals, suspensions and revocations in a national database, and to tell another authority about safety concerns over a driver it licensed. It applies to drivers, not operators.

The English Devolution and Community Empowerment Act 2026 adds national standards for taxi and private hire licensing and powers to suspend licences temporarily. Those sections start on a date set by regulations, and were not in force when we checked. Expect the rules in this guide to change.

Where dispatch software helps, and where it doesn't

Software can't apply for your licence or vouch for you. What it can do is keep the records your licence asks for without anyone typing them twice. In DispatchMe, a booking record is written before every journey starts. It holds the reference, when the booking came in, the passenger, the pickup and destination, the fare quoted, who took it and who dispatched it, the driver and their PHV licence number, the vehicle registration and any subcontracting. It can't be edited afterwards; a change made before pickup is added as an amendment beside it. Both are kept for 12 months.

The staff register holds DBS details for the people on your desk, and both can be exported as CSV or PDF for an inspection. DispatchMe doesn't check licences against TfL's or a council's register: it checks that documents are present, approved and in date. See compliance in DispatchMe for the detail.