Do I need a licence?
All Hackney Carriage Vehicles within Wolverhampton must hold a licence. Hackney Carriages can pick up passengers on the street/at designated taxi ranks. They can do this without a prior booking.
What are the conditions of the licence?
A Hackney Carriage must be a type-approved vehicle and roadworthy before issue. We will only grant a new Hackney Carriage Vehicle licence to a brand new vehicle.
We inspect all Hackney Carriages as part of the application process. We may conduct periodic inspections of a Hackney Carriage depending upon its age. We issue licenses for up to a year.
You must have a Hackney Carriage Driver Licence to drive a Hackney Carriage.
From 1 April 2021 - Important:
- If you are not a licensed Private Hire/Hackney Carriage/Dual Driver: you must provide a basic DBS. You can get this via: UK Government. For Companies/Partnerships, all Directors/Partners need to provide this. Certificates can be no older than 12 months before the application date. For renewals, the DBS certificate must be within 12 months before the expiry.
If there is anything adverse found as part of the checks on your application, you may get an invite for a hearing. You can check our Guidelines (in the Downloads section) to assess this. This may cause delays with your application.
How will we determine an application?
You must submit your application by email to Vehicle.Lic@wolverhampton.gov.uk. We will then assess your application. A Licensing Officer will arrange for you to make payment.
Vehicle inspections
Before we grant a Hackney Carriage vehicle licence, we inspect all vehicles. This is to ensure the vehicle meets the conditions of licence, and that all wheelchair facilities are present and correct.
Frequency of inspections
| Vehicle Age | On Application | 6 Months |
| 0 to 10 years | Annually | NO |
| 10 to 16 years | YES | YES |
How much will it cost?
For full details, see our Fees and Charges under Downloads.
How long will it take you to process my application?
We will only process applications when they are at the front of the queue. If an application has incorrect/incomplete information, it will cause delays. We do not have a guaranteed timescale - these timescales are indicative only.
You will receive an email notifying you of an appointment to collect your plates. Otherwise, we will contact you if there are any problems with your application.
Contact us
To find out more, please email: vehicle.lic@wolverhampton.gov.uk
To submit an application for either a new or renewal Hackney Carriage you must supply
- An image of the Vehicle Registration Document (V5), it must include all pages and both sides. If you are not the vehicle’s registered keeper, you must also provide proof of vehicle hire.
- An electronic copy of the current Vehicle Insurance Certificate/Cover Note. This must be ready to upload. The cover must have commenced on the day of your inspection and cover for public or private hire purposes (as appropriate).
- You must have a photograph or scanned copy of a valid MOT certificate (or vehicle is brand new with delivery miles only) dated within 10 days of application.
- Calibration certificate for new or replacement vehicles by the meter supplier.
- Current licence fee – dependant on the age of the vehicle.
- When your application is correct and complete, we will grant your licence. This will be subject to a vehicle compliance inspection. This is to ensure that your Hackney Carriage complies with the conditions of licence.
- A basic DBS certificate. See above for more information.
- LOLER certificate if the vehicle is fitted with a tail lift.