Taxi/private hire car driver's licence

In these conditions:

• 'exclusive' and 'exclusive hire' means one passenger paying a single fare to hire the whole taxi, no matter how many passengers are being carried;
• ‘shared’ and ‘shared hire’ means each passenger paying the driver a separate fare;
• ‘taxi-bus’ means a taxi which is being used, under a special licence granted under section 12 of the Transport Act 1985, to provide a local service which is or needs to be registered under part 1 of that act, has been previously advertised and which has a destination and route which are not entirely chosen by the passengers; and
• ‘local office’ means the local licensing and registration office

1. • While you are in charge of a vehicle being used as a taxi, you must carry the taxi drivers ID badge we have issued you. You must display the ID badge in the taxi so that the photo and all of the writing on the badge can be clearly seen and read from inside the taxi. You should show your ID badge to any passenger, constable or authorised officer if asked to.  The badge must include your name, a recent photograph showing your appearance, and the date on which the licence ends.  If the badge is lost, damaged or destroyed you will have to pay the cost to replace it.
   • While you are driving a taxi, you must carry the taxi driver's licence we issue you.
   • You must take all reasonable steps to keep to the time and location the person hiring your taxi has given you and which you have accepted, unless you are prevented from doing so by a valid reason (for example, a sudden illness, car accident and so on).
   • You must only work on shared hire if the first passenger gives you their permission to do this, even if the sign or other notice we have approved which shows that the taxi is available for shared hire is displayed. However, you will not need to work on shared hire if you are not displaying a sign or other notice on the taxi at the time you pick up the first passenger.
   • If you are driving a taxi which is on exclusive hire, you must not, in any circumstances, pick up or carry another passenger without the permission of the first passenger or passengers.
   • You must not at any time carry in the taxi more than the number of passengers the taxi is licensed to carry.
   • If your taxi has been hired on exclusive hire, you must take the most direct route to the agreed destination unless asked to do otherwise by the passenger.  If you drive a taxi which has been hired on shared hire, you must take the most direct route for getting to each of the destinations the passengers you are carrying want to get to.
   • If you are not using your taxi as a taxi-bus, and if the cost of the journey is not regulated by a fare structure we have put in place, you must tell the passengers before the journey starts:

a. that the fare is not regulated; and
b. the cost of the proposed journey

9. You must make sure that you use any taximeter fitted in your taxi at all times within the licensed area, and in line with the licensing authority’s rules and regulations.
10. You must inspect the seals on the taximeter at least once a day to make sure they have not been broken. If you find that the seals have been broken or damaged, or that the taximeter is no longer working correctly, you must immediately withdraw the vehicle from service.
11. In line with conditions 12 and 13, you must not refuse to drive a passenger to any place within the licensing area. You must not refuse to carry a passenger because of their race, disability, sex, age or ethnic origin.
12. On shared hire you may refuse to take another passenger if doing so would mean adding an excessive or unreasonable amount of time to the journey of the existing passenger or passengers, or if you could not safely store the other passenger's luggage in the luggage compartment of the taxi.
13. You can choose not to carry any person:

• who is drunk or otherwise not in a fit and proper state to be carried;
• whose condition or clothing is offensive or likely to cause damage to the inside 
• of the taxi; or
• who has an animal with them (other than a guide dog or hearing dog) which is
• likely to damage or foul the inside of the taxi; or for any other reason. You must not refuse to carry a guide dog or hearing dog unless you have a special exemption from doing this which has been issued by the Head of Administration and Legal Services.

14. You must notify the licensing authority immediately if you are involved in an accident.
15. You must notify the licensing authority immediately if you have been convicted of an offence.
16. While you are in charge of the taxi, you must not try to attract customers in any public place except, where the taxi is on shared hire, to find out if anyone else wants to share the journey.
17. You must not refuse to carry luggage in your taxi if you are able to safely store it in the luggage compartment of the taxi.
18. If you can, you must help with loading and unloading luggage when asked to do so.  However, you do not need to leave the area immediately around the taxi to do this (for example, carrying luggage into the passenger’s house).
19. At the end of your shift, you should search the taxi for any lost property. You should return any property you find to the owner (if known) within 24 hours or otherwise hand it in to any police station.
20. While working or carrying a passenger, you should have a clean and tidy appearance and behave in a proper way. You must not smoke.
21. You must not knowingly allow your taxi to be used for illegal purposes, or for carrying any item (including people) that is dirty, filthy, poisonous, explosive or dangerous.
22. You must make sure that the taxi, including all bodywork, upholstery and fittings, is safe and, depending on the road conditions, in a clean condition.
23. Unless the licensing authority makes specific arrangements for particular ranks, when a taxi is driven off a rank, the driver of the taxi immediately behind should take the empty place, and the drivers on the rank behind should take the empty places in the same way.
24. You must keep to all conditions relating to taxi ranks and make sure that when you are waiting at the rank, you keep to the limit on the number of taxis allowed to use the rank at any one time.
25. If you are driving a taxi on shared hire, you may wait at a rank only for as long as you need to find out whether there are any other passengers at the rank who want to share the journey.  If there are not, you should immediately drive your taxi off the rank.
26. When the taxi is hired or waiting for hire, you should either sit in the driving seat of the taxi or stand near the vehicle, except during any period where you have gone to announce that you are waiting to pick up a passenger, when helping the passenger with luggage to or from the taxi or for any other necessary purpose.
27. If you change your address, you must, within 14 days of doing so, give us a note of your new address and take your licence to your local office, who will change the licence to show the new address.
28. If asked to wait at a particular place by one or more of your passengers, you must only agree to do so if your passengers give you their permission.
29. If you change your employer, you must immediately tell your local office and produce a certificate of insurance from your new employer covering you to drive for that employer. If you fail to produce the certificate of insurance, you will be breaking this condition and may be reported to the licensing committee.
30. If you no longer work as a taxi driver for any part of the period left on this licence, or if your licence has ran out, you must, within seven days, tell the local office and take this licence and your ID badge to that office. You will be breaking this condition if you fail to take your licence and ID badge to your local office within seven days from when you stop working.
31. You must make sure that you remove from sight any signs, notices and so on relating to school contracts as soon as you have dropped the children at the appropriate point.  The signs should only be in view immediately before you pick the children up from the agreed place.
32. If your taxi has been hired:

a.  by or for a disabled person who is accompanied by a guide dog or hearing dog; or

b.  by a person who wants a disabled person and the dog to accompany them in the taxi; and you do not have an exemption to refuse to carry these passengers, you must carry the disabled person’s dog and allow it to stay with the disabled person.   You must not make any extra charges for doing so.

33. You must undergo a Taxi/Private Hire Car Driver’s training course arranged by South Lanarkshire Council within six months of your licence being granted.  Failure to attend the course within six months of the licence being granted will result in your licence being suspended with immediate effect on the date six months from the grant of your licence.  You will be referred to the Licensing Committee within six weeks from the date of the immediate suspension.  The Licensing Committee will consider the circumstances and decide whether or not your licence should continue to be suspended.

If you break any of the conditions of this licence, you may be reported to the licensing committee, who may consider whether or not to suspend the licence.