Adur taxi and private-hire licensing

This guide publishes only fields supported by the cited official sources. Anything unresolved is visibly withheld rather than inferred.

RESEARCHED AUTHORITY

Adur

Adur District Council · Sources checked 13 September 2026

Driver licensing
Official route/source found

Full GB, NI or EU driving licence held12 months; right-to-work, enhanced DBS and medical. Applications valid12 months; three-year licences normally. Online submission fee payable within21 days; DBS usually every6 months.

Vehicle licensing
Official route/source found

Renewal requires MOT and compliance testing; annual inspection minimum, insurance and tax. Check eligibility before purchase; current trade page says approved CCTV mandatory, while vehicle page still describes rollout as ongoing.

Operator licensing
Official route/source found

The currently linked handbook normally grants five-year operator licences, with a licensed vehicle-number limit; apply for variation before exceeding it. The operating/bookings address must be within Adur, with appropriate planning consent. Direct private-hire vehicles must be Adur-licensed. Renew before expiry. The handbook describes criminal disclosures and overseas good-conduct evidence, but its use of 'standard DBS' needs confirmation against current application guidance before specifying the check level.

Licensing fees
Official route/source found

2026/27: annual HC £365.50, PH £312.50. New-driver application £160.75 including first knowledge test, HC three-year licence £352.25 or PH £339.50; these are separate listed charges. Operator initial application £141.50; five-year1–2 vehicle licence £524,3–5 £954,6–10 £1706.50.

Taxi tariff
Official evidence found; detail still to confirm

PHTM's 2 September 2026 trade comparison reports Adur's two-mile tariff-1 fare as £7.80. This is explicitly a secondary two-mile benchmark, not a council-verified complete fare card. Council passenger guidance confirms metered taxi fares and the prohibition on exceeding the displayed meter. Full current initial charge, distance/time increments and festive supplements remain unverified; an operator-hosted card found during research was dated September 2008 and was excluded as stale.

Mandatory qualifications
Official route/source found

Knowledge test, driving assessment, disability awareness and child-exploitation training required for new applicants.

Withheld or still needing confirmation
  • Full operator requirements not extracted.
  • Current adopted full fare card not verified; secondary operator tariff retained as unverified lead.
  • Detailed age/emissions and medical conditions require handbook review.
  • CCTV rollout wording differs between official pages.
  • Enrichment only. DBS level held due potentially outdated standard-disclosure wording; no automatic substitution with basic.
  • Secondary two-mile benchmark only; cannot infer complete meter specification.
  • Current full council fare card not recovered.

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