To apply for a Hackney Carriage Drivers Licence, you need a valid UK driving licence for at least 12 months. As well as this, you also need the below:
- A full UK driving licence for Category B vehicles, which you have held for at least 12 months. If you have a driving licence issued from outside of the UK, see Exchange a foreign driving licence.
- A completed medical certificate within 4 months of your application date. You can also use templates from Birmingham, Coventry, Dudley, Sandwell, Solihull, Walsall. Wolverhampton Council's template is in the 'Downloads' section. From 1 January 2025, all pages of the attached DVLA D4 form must be provided with your application. If you experience difficulties whilst uploading the medical with the completed DVLA D4 form please submit your completed medical separately to driver.lic@wolverhampton.gov.uk with your WTP reference that will be provided once your application has been successfully submitted.
- Proof of your right to work in the UK – Here you can find the Right to Work Document Assessment form. You must upload an acceptable image of your Right to Work documentation and produce all original documents for verification prior to your licence being granted.
- An acceptable image of all pages of your full enhanced DBS certificate.
- If you are an existing driver and your DBS Certificate is dated less than two years ago, it will still be valid. Please check your renewal letter for details.
- You must also subscribe to the DBS Update Service at a cost of £16 per year. Please note that from 2 December 2024, the Disclosure and Barring Service will be increasing the cost of an enhanced DBS certificate as well as the cost of the DBS update service, which may result in the DBS certificate costing you more. We would advise that you apply for your DBS certificate and subscribe to the DBS Update Service as soon as possible to avoid paying extra. The DBS certificate must be an enhanced check with a position of ‘Other Workforce - Taxi Licensing’. You have 30 days from the issue date on your certificate to apply for the Update Service
- If you do not have a DBS certificate, you can get one via TaxiPlus Wolverhampton.
- A completed DVLA Licence check. This will complete at the same time as your DBS, if you apply via TaxiPlus.
- If your DBS certificate is not via TaxiPlus Wolverhampton, you will need a DVLA Check Code
- Completed our Hackney Carriage theoretical and driving assessment. Please contact Worcestershire County Council to book this on: taxidrivertraining@worcestershire.gov.uk.
- Your own, individual email address.
If you are a renewal applicant or have held a similar licence within the last 12 months:
You need to evidence your tax status via a Tax Check Code. Please see Complete a tax check for a taxi, private hire or scrap metal licence.
If you are not on the DBS Update Service, you will only receive a 6 month licence. You will need to provide a new DBS certificate every six months as per the Department for Transport.
When you submit your application, Licensing Services will process this. This will not progress if all documents are not submitted in a correct/complete manner. We will contact you during the application process if we need further information.
Please note that your name must match and be spelt the same way on your documents. Your application will not continue until you resolve this.
You will receive confirmation of your application submission. This may divert to your clutter/junk folder.
We are unable to provide progress updates over the telephone. You can check the status of your application here.
If you need further information, please contact:-
Driver: Driver.Lic@wolverhampton.gov.uk
Vehicle: Vehicle.Lic@wolverhampton.gov.uk
We do offer a fast track procedure, please see:-
If you have any convictions/information on your records:
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.