Renewal of a taxi licence

Driver's licences are renewed every one or three years depending on how long yours was issued for. DBS checks are renewed every six months, DVLA mandate checks are renewed on a yearly basis and medicals are renewed based on your age.

It is your responsibility to ensure that your driver's licence is renewed before its expiry date.

If a renewal application has not been received before the expiry date, then there is no licence to renew and any subsequent request will be treated as a new application, with all the necessary checks starting again.

Before you can submit your application to renew your new Hackney Carriage/ Private Hire Drivers Licence there are some things you must complete prior to submission of your application:

DBS renewals (completed every 6 months)

Paper DBS applications

If you are required to complete a DBS and need to complete a paper DBS application form, you will need to produce the following documents:

• DVLA driving licence (held for at least 12 months)
• Current UK passport or UK birth certificate (if your passport was issued outside of the UK or Republic of Ireland, then a certificate of good character will be required from the relevant embassy if you have not lived in the UK for a minimum period of five continuous years before making your application (in English))
• National insurance number (either the number card, official national insurance number letter from the DWP or the national insurance letter obtainable from the government gateway website)
• Council tax bill (current year), bank statement or utility bill (no older than three months)
• Applicants who are not UK nationals by birth or by naturalisation must also produce a Home Office check code in order for us to check your right to work status. You must also produce your residency permit if you have been issued with one.
• Completed DBS privacy policy declaration form (PDF, 117 KB).

Note: All documents (including your DVLA driving licence) must be in your current address. These are the requirements of the DBS and not the Council. We are   unable to process your DBS application without these.

DBS certificates are valid for a period of 2 months from the date that they're issued.

Online DBS applications

If you are registered with the DBS update service, you will need to produce the following documents:

• Completed DBS online checking application form (PDF, 39 KB)
• The original DBS certificate you used to register with the DBS update service

Medical renewals

If you are required to complete a medical, you will need to produce this additional document:

• Completed group 2 medical form (PDF, 578 KB)

Medical assessments are valid for a period of 2 months from the date they're completed. Only pages 1 and 2 of the medical assessment need to be returned to us.

DVLA mandate renewals

If you are required to complete a DVLA mandate check, you will need to produce these additional documents:

• A DVLA mandate check code
• Your DVLA driver's licence (held for at least 12 months, both sides)

Submitting an application to renew your licence

Once you have successfully completed the pre-application steps you can now apply online to renew your hackney carriage/private hire driver's licence. When submitting your application, you must also provide the following documentation if not previously provided as part of the pre-application steps.

• DVLA driving licence (held for at least 12 months, both sides)
• DVLA mandate check code
• HMRC tax check code (from 4 April 2022 if applicable). Please read the 'tax checks' section for full information.
• Applicants who are not UK nationals by birth or by naturalisation must also produce a Home Office check code in order for us to check your right to work status. You must also produce your residency permit if you have been issued with one.

Your application to renew your licence must be submitted at least 5 days prior to your expiry date or we will not be able to guarantee it will be renewed before your expiry date.

Please note that upon submission of your application you will be contacted to make a payment of £25.00 for us to check your application. This fee is non-refundable in the case of your application being rejected due to an incorrect submission. You must ensure that you check your application and supporting documents, or a further new application will have to be submitted. The £25.00 fee is per application submitted and will be deducted from the payment for your licence (excluding any previous payments made for incorrect submissions).

Providing that your application is satisfactory and there are no instances that would trigger a referral to the Licensing & Environmental Protection Committee in line with our policies you will receive your licence within 5 working days.

General information

Please note: before you can begin the application process you will be asked for a licence reference number. This number will be 13-15 digits in length and a mixture of numbers and letters. Your licence reference number can be found in the bottom right hand side of your hackney carriage/ private hire driver licence paperwork. Your reference number will be different for each licence you hold (for example, you cannot use your vehicle reference number to renew your HC/PH drivers' licence) and it will change every time a licence is renewed so it is important that you retain your current information and licences for future use. 

If you're having issues with locating your licence reference number, please email us.