RESEARCHED AUTHORITY
Cherwell
Cherwell Council · Sources checked 13 September 2026
- Driver licensing
- Official route/source found
Applicants need a full UK driving licence held one year, enhanced DBS, right-to-work evidence and satisfactory fitness/character checks.
- Vehicle licensing
- Official route/source found
Supply current insurance, an MOT issued within28days by a test station in Cherwell, receipts for completed MOT-advisory work, and the full V5 or new-keeper slip plus bill of sale. Vehicles over ten years need full service history. The live form lists hackney grant £373/renewal £324 and private-hire grant £340.50/renewal £313; vehicle replacement £141 and licensee transfer £72 for either class. These are displayed application prices checked13September2026, not an inferred effective date.
- Operator licensing
- Official route/source found
Current council-linked 2025 policy section 17 normally grants a five-year, non-transferable operator licence, with separate licensing for a secondary booking office. Applicants provide the fee and basic DBS unless already a council-licensed driver; public-access premises require public-liability cover and direct employment requires appropriate employers' liability evidence. Driver, vehicle and operator licensing must match; subcontracting requires records and safeguarding checks. Booking/dispatch staff need DBS dated within two weeks before employment and repeat checks at least every three years; retain the check number/date/general result, not the certificate, in the staff register. Daily vehicle checks are retained twelve months. Digital booking must meet WCAG 2.1 AA and capture accessibility needs without disability-related extra charges. The policy's 75% locally fulfilled journey expectation is guidance, not an absolute statutory prohibition. Fleet wheelchair-accessibility minima start 1 January 2028 and are future requirements, not current fleet conditions.
- Licensing fees
- Official evidence found; detail still to confirm
The explicitly dated 1 April 2026 table lists one-vehicle operator licences at £166 for one year or £180 for five years, plus £26.50 per additional vehicle. The same page retains an older £21.50 additional-vehicle bullet and an 'annual renewal' label; use the dated table only with this inconsistency disclosed and confirm the payable total.
- Taxi tariff
- Official route/source found
Effective1September2022: daytime06:00–22:00 £3 for firstquartermile then15p per started1/16mile. Night22:00–06:00 £3.50 then16p per started1/16mile. Festive24December21:00–27December06:00 and31December21:00–2January06:00 £4 then25p per started1/16mile. Sunday/public-holiday daytime £3.50 then16p per1/16mile. All bands include firstquartermile. Waiting15p per20seconds; soiling£70.
- Mandatory qualifications
- Official route/source found
New applicants need safeguarding/disability training, practical driving, Group 2 medical with full records, spoken English and knowledge tests.
Withheld or still needing confirmation
- Source misprints the Town Police Clauses Act year as1874; not reproduced as law.
- Full fees, vehicle/operator requirements and tariff not extracted.
- DBS level and licence-duration labels conflict across official material. Operator and fee fields remain partial, not fully verified. Preserve prior verified fields.
- Summary is not an exhaustive reproduction of licence conditions; future 2028 accessibility requirements remain separately dated.
- Sunday/publicholiday distance row omits explicit uncompleted-part wording present in otherbands; waiting rounding notspecified.
- Metric distances are approximate conversions of printed fractions ofmile.
- Full age, emissions and inspection-policy exceptions not reverified.
- Preserve all prior verified fields.