RESEARCHED AUTHORITY
Hastings
Hastings Council · Sources checked 13 September 2026
- Driver licensing
- Official route/source found
Apply through the online portal for a combined licence, normally three years. Provide UK licence held 12 months, medical assessment, enhanced DBS through Ucheck and maintained Update subscription.
- Vehicle licensing
- Official route/source found
Private-hire licences last one year and require an online portal account, registration document, current passenger/hire-and-reward insurance and MOT. The vehicle must be no more than five years from first registration and cannot be blue, which is reserved for taxis. Ask licensing about suitability before purchase. An annual roadworthiness inspection applies, and the issued plate must be fixed outside at the rear. Use the portal for renewals and ownership/licence transfers.
- Operator licensing
- Official route/source found
Apply or renew through the online portal. The published checklist requires public liability insurance, planning permission and fee; incomplete applications are not accepted. Booking-office premises require planning consent. East Sussex school-contract work requires an operator licence or work through a licensed operator. Continuing conditions are linked from the application page; this short checklist does not establish every suitability requirement.
- Licensing fees
- Official route/source found
2026 operator fleet bands (1 / 2–20 / 21–70 / 71+ vehicles): one-year £144 / £220 / £470 / £1,482; five-year £404 / £739 / £1,992 / £7,033. Vehicle licence £272; driver one-year £177 or three-year £440.
- Taxi tariff
- Official evidence found; detail still to confirm
PHTM's September 2026 trade comparison reports £8.10 for a two-mile tariff-1 journey in Hastings. This is a secondary benchmark only, not a fare card or an arbitrary-distance rate. Council policy requires the current council fare table to be displayed in each hackney carriage; a metered private-hire vehicle must display its own calibrated tariff. Older third-party £2.80-start fare calculators are not treated as current evidence.
- Mandatory qualifications
- Official route/source found
Blue Lamp Trust driving assessment and safeguarding certificates plus a passed local knowledge test are required.
Withheld or still needing confirmation
- Historic DBS/Update prices on page are not republished; current full fee schedule needed.
- Vehicle/operator and fares not extracted.
- Preserve prior verified fields. Further suitability/background-check detail remains to be read from policy; application summary is not exhaustive.
- Full current official fare card, flag/included distance, pulses, waiting, time bands and effective date remain unverified.
- Benchmark cannot support an arbitrary-distance calculator or establish complete tariff coverage.
- Hackney-specific standards, renewal age exceptions and current fees remain to verify.
- Preserve prior verified fields.