Dual hackney carriage and private hire driver
Dual driver licence courses
The following courses are required as part of the dual hackney carriage and private hire driver licence.
Disability Equality and Safeguarding Training
This course costs £40 plus VAT and is offered by an external provider, First Response Training, and replaces the two separate courses for Disability Equality and Safeguarding that were required saving you both time and money. If you have passed the previous courses within the 3 months prior to supplying a complete licence application you will not need to retake this course and can provide those certificates.
Council knowledge test
Required for all new drivers (including those whose licenses have lapsed) and any current driver who does not satisfy us as to their ability to speak and write in English.
This test costs:
Up to 31 March 2025 £20
From 1 April 2025 £13
The fee will need to be paid upon booking.
Please note: we only offer one course a month at present. If demand increases we will look to put more courses on in the future.
The test comprises an exam covering the following areas:
- the Highway Code - even if you have been driving for many years we would recommend that you refresh your knowledge in this area particularly thinking about types of signs, stopping distances, legal tyre treads. You may find online provisional practice tests a good place to revise this
- taxi legislation - reading our taxi licensing policy will also assist with your knowledge on this subject. When revising think about the legislation that we use, the appeals process and the reason that we regulate taxis
- our vehicle conditions and driver code of conduct. This can be found in Appendice A, D and G of the Taxi Licensing Policy
- local area knowledge (knowledge of road names and locations of local pubs, landmarks, schools, supermarkets, transportation links and places of interest) - we have a list of places to download to help you look up road names and revise
- working out fares and giving change - we have a document that you can download which shows current fares and how to work out the mileage
A 75% pass mark is require for each section - all sections must be passed at the same time and failure to answer certain questions correctly will result in automatic failure.
Where an applicant fails the knowledge test there is an extra fee for every following test and every missed test. Once an appointment has been made for the test, the applicant must give two clear working days’ notice to cancel an appointment or they will need to pay the test fee to book onto the next course. Anyone failing the test will be able to re-sit the test twice, at their cost. If the applicant fails the test three times then the application will be cancelled and they will be unable to reapply again for a licence until a minimum period of 12 months after the date of the last failure and they will be treated as a new applicant.
If any applicant has any particular needs as a result of a disability or otherwise they should let the Licensing Team know and suitable arrangements can be made to arrange the test.
Normal examination conditions will apply during the knowledge test. Anyone found to be using unfair means during the test will be excluded from the test and will need to take a fresh test and pay the appropriate fee. This may also affect their fitness and propriety to be granted a licence.