Renew a vehicle licence

You must submit all renewals in good time prior to the expiry of your existing licence. If a renewal application has not been received before the expiry date, the licence has expired and you will be required to submit as a new applicant.  

It is advised that you begin the process of renewing your vehicle licence at least 2 weeks prior to the expiry date as resources will not be available to deal with 'walk in's'.

Step 1: Take your vehicle for an MOT at a VOSA approved MOT station located within the St Helens borough. 

You will need to book an MOT test with a VOSA approved MOT station that is situated within the borough of St Helens. You may also book an MOT at Hardshaw Brook Depot. 

Your MOT certificate can be no older than 28 days before the date your vehicle licence expires.

Note: We will be unable to accept an MOT certificate from an MOT station which is situated outside of the borough of St Helens. 

Step 2: Complete your online renewal application form and provide your supporting documentation

Once your vehicle has passed an MOT, you will need to complete either: 

• The online hackney carriage renewal application form, or
• The online renewal private hire vehicle application form

When submitting your application you must also provide the following supporting documentation: 

• MOT certificate
• Certificate of motor insurance: the certificate motor insurance must state the name of the driver of the vehicle, or in the case of a vehicle on hire a letter of authorisation must be provided alongside the certificate of motor insurance signed by the owner(s) of the vehicle, or one or more of the company directors (if the vehicle is owned by a company) stating that the driver is authorised to drive the vehicle and is covered on the motor insurance policy. The letter of authorisation should include the following details as a minimum:
  • The make, model, and registration of the vehicle.
  • The particulars of the motor insurance policy (policy number, policy start date, and policy end date).
  • The name, address, DVLA licence number, and Hackney Carriage/ Private Hire Drivers Licence number of the driver
• A copy of the vehicles logbook (V5C) (if this has not already been produced).
• Standard DBS certificate (no older than 1 calendar month) for each applicant that does not hold a valid hackney carriage/ private hire drivers licence with us. If the applicant is a company or a partnership, a standard DBS certificate (no older than 1 calendar month) must be provided for each partner or director.

Please ensure that you check your application and upload all supporting documents before you submit it. The application form allows up to 32MB of files to be uploaded. Should you not upload all of the required documentation, your application will be delayed.

Note: The online application form accepts the following file types only: DOC, DOCX, GIF, JPG, PDF, PNG, TIF, TIFF, TXT, XLS, XLSX, MP3, MP4, M4A

Once we have validated your application has been checked, you will be contacted to pay the application fee for the vehicle. 

Step 3: Bring your vehicle to St Helens Town Hall for a compliance inspection at your allocated appointment date and time. 

After you have paid for your renewal application you will be emailed a date and time in which you must bring your vehicle to St Helens Town Hall so it can undergo a compliance inspection. You must ensure that you attend your appointment promptly as we will be unable to conduct the inspection if you are late. 

Note: only a St Helens licensed driver may bring the vehicle for the compliance inspection.

Some of the areas that the compliance test will cover are (but not limited to):

• Cleanliness of the vehicle
• Condition of the bodywork and paintwork
• All relevant stickers are present (no smoking stickers, complaints stickers, wheelchair stickers (in the case of a hackney carriage), and wheelchair information stickers (in the case of a hackney carriage)
• Condition of the vehicles seats.
• Vehicle plates are displayed in the correct locations and are displayed using the council issued bracket.

If your vehicle passes the compliance inspection you will issued with your new plates which must be affixed to your vehicle before you leave the inspection area, and your old plates must be returned to the officer conducting your inspection at the same time. Your licences and conditions will be emailed to you and you will also be provided with a copy of the inspection sheet for your records.

Step 4: If your vehicle fails the compliance inspection (if applicable) 

If your vehicle fails its compliance inspection you will be required to remove your vehicle from the inspection area and arrange for the failure items to be rectified. You will be issued with a copy of the inspection sheet for your records. 

Once you have rectified the issues found on the compliance inspection you must email us to book your vehicle in for a re-inspection of the items that failed on the previous inspection. 

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 vehicle 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 driver's 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.

If you are a hackney carriage vehicle or private hire vehicle proprietor that has more than one person named on your licence, the online renewal form will only display the details of one of the vehicle's proprietors. For each proprietor whose details the online renewal form does not display, they will need to complete the 'applicants page' from the paper renewal hackney carriage or private hire vehicle form and upload this at the end of the online renewal application form.