RESEARCHED AUTHORITY
Castle Point
Castle Point Council · Sources checked 13 September 2026
- Driver licensing
- Official route/source found
Applicants must be over21, hold a full DVLA licence for three years, meet Group2 medical and enhanced DBS standards and prove right to work. Register interest, complete pre-licensing checks, apply online, then attend with original DBS and ID. Private-hire applicants need written work confirmation from a local operator.
- Vehicle licensing
- Official route/source found
One-year licences require correct hire insurance, ownership/registration evidence and approved-centre inspection. Normally first licensing/replacement must be no older than seven, with a twelve-year maximum and limousine exception. Mechanical checks are annual through seven years, six-monthly over seven to ten, four-monthly over ten. New hackney licences require wheelchair accessibility; existing saloon grandfather rights remain. Non-driver proprietors require annual basic DBS.
- Operator licensing
- Official route/source found
Normally five-year licences. Provide right-to-work evidence, vehicle list, basic DBS for non-driver applicants/directors/partners (then annually), and applicable overseas criminal-record evidence. Keep an ex-offender employment policy and relevant public/employer liability cover. New bases must be within Castle Point, with a grandfather exception for previously licensed outside bases.
- Licensing fees
- Official route/source found
For 1 April2026–31 March2027, new combined driver licences cost £260/£320/£375 for one/two/three years; private hire £180/£230/£280. Published renewal charges are £178 combined and £140 private hire (term not stated in that column). Vehicle grant/renewal: hackney £450/£300, private hire £265/£200. Operator fees: one vehicle £100 one-year or £500 five-year; two-plus vehicles £200 or £1,000. English test £49; medical, DBS and external training cost extra.
- Taxi tariff
- Official route/source found
The current public page links an approved April2024 fare card. Standard four-seat daytime flag is £3.40 for158.6yards or2minutes; then20p per180.4yards/45seconds until £8.40, then20p per163.6yards/33seconds. Night flags are £5.40 (20:00–midnight, Sundays/public holidays) and £6.40 (midnight–06:00). Festive periods double rates. Five-to-eight-seat rates are one-and-a-half times standard. Exact time/distance combination and holiday precedence require meter-specific treatment; these figures are not an activated calculator tariff.
- Mandatory qualifications
- Official route/source found
Provide approved driving-assessment, disability-awareness and safeguarding certificates and English evidence where needed. Hackney applicants take the local knowledge test. Do not license a vehicle before the driver badge is granted.
Withheld or still needing confirmation
- 2026/27 fees linked but not extracted; vehicle/operator/tariff requirements incomplete.
- Enrichment only. Source also says basic DBS Update Service, an apparent terminology issue not repeated as an instruction. Full vehicle specification and exceptions remain in policy.
- Preserve other verified fields. Driver renewal column does not specify term; do not infer three years. Combined distance/time wording and fare-threshold boundaries need calculator implementation review; this card is not automatically calculator-ready.