RESEARCHED AUTHORITY
Lewes
Lewes District Council · Sources checked 13 September 2026
- Driver licensing
- Official route/source found
Official guidance effective 10 February 2025 says new drivers need a full DVLA or equivalent licence held for at least 12 months. A complete application includes the form and fee, full driving licence, approved driving assessment, enhanced DBS or good-conduct evidence where applicable, knowledge-test pass, Group 2 medical, English-language test pass, right-to-work evidence, photograph and identity/address evidence.
- Vehicle licensing
- Official route/source found
The 2025 guidance says a complete vehicle application includes the prescribed form, fee, V5 registration document, current insurance evidence and the council vehicle suitability test. Full vehicle specifications and licence conditions remain in the guidance and have not yet been reduced to an exhaustive TECSI checklist.
- Operator licensing
- Official route/source found
The official guidance requires an operator licence for accepting private-hire bookings. Operator, driver and vehicle licences must be issued by the same authority. Non-driver applicants need a basic DBS or good-conduct evidence, with annual basic DBS checks thereafter; booking/dispatch staff must be registered and subject to annual basic DBS checks.
- Licensing fees
- Official route/source found
Official 2026-2027 fees include driver application £409, three-year driver licence £567, vehicle licence £340, knowledge resits £87 dual or £71 restricted private hire, English-language resit £114 and DBS £114. Five-year operator fees range from £490 for up to five vehicles to £3,500 for 101 or more.
- Taxi tariff
- Official evidence found; detail still to confirm
March 2026 approved-for-publication Table 2: first 880 yards day 07:00–22:59 £4.20, Sunday daytime £5.10, night 23:00–06:59/bank holidays £6.10, festive £7.70. Each band then adds 20p per 159.4 yards until two miles and 20p/106.7 yards thereafter. Festive windows are 24 December 20:00–27 December 07:00 and 31 December 20:00–2 January 00:01. Waiting day/Sunday 20p/18 seconds, night/festive 30p/18 seconds. Five–eight passengers adds 50%; soiling £125 standard or £180 multiseat. Statutory notice envisaged 3 May 2026 commencement if no objections, or a later determination no later than 3 July. Final operative card/outcome is not yet verified; do not treat conditional dates as established commencement.
- Mandatory qualifications
- Official route/source found
The 2025 guidance requires a knowledge test, approved driving-proficiency assessment, Group 2 medical, English-language proficiency test and recognised disability-awareness and safeguarding training. The knowledge test covers local places, licensing law and policy, Highway Code, road signs, numeracy, equalities, safeguarding and disability awareness; restricted private-hire drivers are exempt from the local-area knowledge element.
Withheld or still needing confirmation
- Current adopted Lewes hackney-carriage fare table has not been recovered and verified; the published guide must show tariff unavailable rather than withholding the other five verified fields.
- A fare proposal or secondary report must not be presented as an adopted tariff without the council outcome and final table.
- Vehicle age, emissions and complete condition detail require a structured extraction before publication as an exhaustive checklist.
- Post-notice objection outcome/current operative card not recovered; numerical Table2 is approved-for-publication evidence, not a confirmed current fare.
- Rounding and meter timing require explicit checking before activation.