Hackney carriage vehicle licence

Hackney carriages can be pre-booked and customers can hail them from the street or from a taxi rank.

If you want to drive a hackney carriage (taxi) you will need:

• driver licence
• hackney carriage vehicle licence

To drive a hackney carriage in Harlow, both the driver licence and the hackney carriage vehicle licence need to be issued by us.

To apply for a hackney carriage vehicle licence, you need to contact us.

We will provide an application form, which you need to complete and return to us along with the fee of £298 and supporting documents.

For a hackney carriage vehicle licence, the supporting documents you need are:

• a valid insurance certificate, which must include ‘on risk’ cover for hackney carriage use
• a current MOT and compliance test certificate for the vehicle (at a cost of £50)
• the registration document showing the registered keeper’s name and address or proof of vehicle ownership

Once we have checked that your application and paperwork is correct, we will issue your vehicle licence.

Your hackney carriage licence will be valid for one year from the date we granted it.

Once you have your licence, you will need to keep to the hackney carriage vehicle licence conditions (pdf)

Fares

We regulate the fare you can charge your customers, and you can check the hackney carriage tariffs (pdf).

Inspections and MOTs

Vehicles less than 6 years old must be compliance tested every year.

Vehicles more than 6 years old must be compliance tested twice a year.

All vehicles require an annual MOT.

Card payment machines

All hackney carriage vehicles have to offer a card payment option from 6 April 2021. Your vehicle will need a Harlow Council approved card payment terminal (see list below) which can accept payment by credit and debit card. You will also need to make sure:

• the device is connected, maintained and working at all times
• you have a method of issuing a receipt to the customer available at all times - receipts can be in an email, text, printed, handwritten or other acceptable format agreed with the Licensing Team and must include:
  • date of booking (and date of issue if different)
  • description of pick up and destination
  • vehicle registration
  • vehicle licence number
  • drivers licence number
  • amount
• your vehicle is fitted with the Harlow Council approved and supplied card payment stickers in both rear passenger windows and inside the passenger compartment (see guidance on the positioning below)