Licensing of Operators. 3.1 Private hire vehicles are not permitted to ply or stand for hire and must be pre-booked through an operator. Operators are required to be licensed under the 1976 Act.
3.2 The only qualification required for a private hire operator is that the Council must be satisfied that he, she is a fit and proper person to hold such a licence. For the avoidance of doubt, an operator’s licence can be held by a body corporate, i.e. a company or partnership. Again, the Council has a Suitability Policy to guide it in its determination as to whether an applicant is a fit and proper person to hold a licence. (Appendix I)
3.3 The standards for operators are not as stringent as are those for drivers. The policy does not take into account conditional discharges after they are deemed spent (whereas for drivers, a conditional discharge will be taken into consideration even if spent for 12 months after the date of sentence) or cautions. This is an acknowledgment of the fact that the Council is not entitled to request an enhanced DBS check for operators. Only a basic check is required which will not reveal spent convictions or cautions. If the applicant is a limited company or partnership all directors or partners must undergo a basic check. It is highly unlikely therefore that spent convictions would come to the attention of the Council. However, if such matters were to come to light the Council could have regard to them in determining whether the applicant was a fit and proper person and for the avoidance of doubt this is most likely to happen if a director or partner is also seeking to be licensed to drive.
3.4 The Standards for operators also ignore an individual applicant's driving record. This is because the driving record of an operator does not impact upon his or her suitability as an operator of vehicles and drivers. The exception to this policy is for offences of driving or using a vehicle without insurance. As the operator is primarily responsible for ensuring that vehicles he or she operates are properly insured, the Council takes the view that a conviction for such an offence goes to the issue as to whether that person can be said to be a fit and proper to hold an operator’s licence. However, if an operator also wishes to act as a driver, then he or she would need to obtain a driver's licence, and on that application would need to meet the Licensing Standards - Drivers.
3.5 Paragraphs 2.3 - 2.8 above apply to operators' licences in the same way as they apply to dri...
Licensing of Operators. Private hire vehicles are not permitted to ply or stand for hire and must be pre-booked through an operator. Operators are required to be licensed under the 1976 Act.
