Taxi and private hire driver's licence conditions

Drivers should:

• behave in a ‘civil and orderly’ manner and comply with the reasonable requests of passengers in the vehicle.
• be well dressed, neat and clean when you are working and you must be polite and reasonable when dealing with your passengers, other road users and members of the public.
• load, unload and carry a reasonable quantity of luggage if asked to so by passengers including taking this to the entrance of the location at drop off.
• not carry more passengers, of any age, than specified in your vehicle licence.
• make every reasonable effort to be at the agreed time and place for your booking.
• search the vehicle for any lost property after every hiring and deliver any property you find to us within 48 hours unless it has been claimed by the owner within that time.
• not make the journey distance or time longer without a good reason for doing so (Section 69).
• not refuse a journey within Waverley without a good reason for doing so if your vehicle is standing at a rank or in a street  - hackney carriage drivers only. Private hire drivers may not use a rank.
• not refuse to take a disabled person accompanied by an assistance dog. You cannot charge extra for taking them.
• not leave your vehicle unattended in a public place or street.
• be ready to be hired at once if your vehicle is one of the first two on a rank.

Safety

Drivers should:

• take all reasonable precautions to ensure the safety of passengers while in, or getting in your vehicle
• not carry more passengers, of whatever age, than specified in the vehicle licence
• be aware that every child over 3 years of age must have their own seat and seatbelt in the vehicle which complies with Road Traffic law
• not carry anyone else during a journey without the permission of the person who hired you first
• not use your vehicle as a private hire vehicle unless it has a valid and current vehicle licence and bookings for it are made by someone with an operator’s licence (Section 46).

Children’s safety

Drivers should be aware that:

• they are responsible for seat belt wearing by children under 14 years (except in taxis with fixed partitions)
• if child restraints are not available in a licensed taxi or a licensed private hire vehicle, then children:
  • under 3 years old can travel unrestrained, but only in the back of the vehicle
  • 3 years and older must use an adult seatbelt, and be in the back of the vehicle.
  • up to 135 cm in height (4 foot 4 inches approx) in the front seat of any vehicle must use the correct child seat or booster seat.

If you are operating as a private hire driver, you can't display signs, call out, or stand with the vehicle at a taxi rank, or do anything which is likely to give anyone the impression that your vehicle is available for hire as if it is a hackney carriage.

You should:

• wear your Waverley driver's badge while working. It must be clearly visible eg on a lapel (Section 54)
• use our fare charges, or a lower charge for journeys within Waverley Borough.  You must agree with the passenger before the journey starts if you are not going to use the fare chart for journeys ending outside the borough.

If using your hackney carriage for a ‘private hire contract’, you should calculate the fare from when the passenger starts the journey.

You must:

• comply with our instructions about any matter relating to your role as a licensed driver with us and produce your licence within five days if we or the police ask for it.
• produce your licence within 5 days at the request of an authorised officer of the council or a police officer (Section 53).
• provide us with telephone numbers capable of receiving withheld numbers.

Personal details

Write to us as soon as possible, but within 14 days, to tell us about any change of:

• name
• address
• telephone number (numbers given to us for licensing reasons must be able to receive withheld numbers)
• iIlness or injury affecting your fitness to drive.

Incidents

Write to us as soon as possible, but within 7 days, with details of any of the events shown below.  You should contact us if you are not sure if something that happened should be reported to us:

• convictions or formal police cautions
• motoring offences or endorsements, , including speed awareness courses
• charges/summons/postal requisitions/fixed penalty notices in respect of any criminal offence
• arrest or interview under caution for any alleged offence
• any communication notifying of any alleged offence.

Email: taxi@waverley.gov.uk