RESEARCHED AUTHORITY
Reading
Reading Council · Sources checked 13 September 2026
- Driver licensing
- Official route/source found
Applicants must join the DBS Update Service when obtaining their next certificate, provide the reference and a DVLA check code, and submit a GP-completed medical report, identity/right-to-work evidence and the other application documents. Six or more DVLA points trigger senior-officer or committee consideration.
- Vehicle licensing
- Official route/source found
The 2026 PH specification requires new-to-fleet vehicles to be ULEV and under 5 from 13 February 2026; the current maximum fleet age is 15. From 13 February 2027 the under-5/ULEV rule covers all replacements and maximum age becomes 12. The 2028 phase sets a 10-year ULEV limit with possible individually assessed extensions up to two years. Vehicles carry 4–8 passengers, have right-hand drive and suitable access/luggage provision; modifications need prior written approval. Obtain an assigned plate number before the first authorised test. Licences last 12 months and renewal should start six weeks before expiry. The published testing table requires annual compliance under 5, annual MOT from 3, and both tests twice yearly from 5.
- Operator licensing
- Official route/source found
The policy effective 13 February 2026 provides five-year operator licences, shorter only exceptionally. Applicants need Basic DBS under one month old unless covered by a Reading driver licence; company directors/secretary and partners provide annual Basic disclosures. Right-to-work evidence is required. Booking/dispatch staff require initial and annual Basic DBS, a staff register, an ex-offender employment policy and safeguarding training refreshed every three years. The operating base must be inside Reading with necessary planning consent; public-access premises need at least £5 million public liability insurance. Booking/driver/vehicle records remain at the base for at least six months after the relevant booking or cessation. Separate school-transport operator licences ended on 13 February 2026; existing operators are being reissued under the new conditions.
- Licensing fees
- Official route/source found
The council's live taxi-payments page, updated 14 August 2026, lists driver licences at £328 for hackney carriage, £319 for private hire and £240 for school transport, with DBS at £57.90. Vehicle grant/renewal is £439 for hackney carriage, including a £103 unmet-demand survey charge payable once between 16 January 2026 and 16 January 2027; private hire is £315 and executive private hire £352. Operator grant and renewal fees are separately banded by fleet size and one- or five-year term: for 1–3 vehicles, grant is £806/£2,125 and renewal £561/£2,065.
- Taxi tariff
- Official evidence found; detail still to confirm
Current HTML updated 19 June 2026: day06:00–22:00 £3.60 first278 yards or144 seconds, then20p/123 yards or42 seconds. Night £4.60 first281 yards or142 seconds; then20p/142 yards for next2 miles,129 yards for next2.5 miles,123 yards thereafter, with38-second time units. Holiday daytime/night bands £5.40/£6.90 and30p increments; source's festive eve/daytime applicability is ambiguous. Additional persons40p each maximum£2; exterior/interior fouling£25/£70; actual airport/congestion/toll charges; card payment no surcharge. Source contains inconsistent metre equivalents for initial yards, so units are reproduced without silently resolving them.
- Mandatory qualifications
- Official route/source found
A driver must pass the knowledge and location test, practical driving test and safeguarding training before applying. These are Reading's stated hackney-carriage requirements; a separate private-hire route has not been inferred.
Withheld or still needing confirmation
- Vehicle/operator and full fees not extracted. Fare chart has conflicting yard/metre conversions and ambiguous holiday wording; calculator remains held.
- The live page gives current amounts and was updated 14 August 2026, but does not label the whole table with a single financial-year heading. The date-bounded unmet-demand survey component is preserved exactly.
- Preserve prior verified fields.
- Preserve prior verified fields. Older private-hire landing-page one-year term and school-transport application wording are superseded by the explicitly adopted February 2026 policy; do not repeat them. Current numeric operator fees not verified in this enrichment.
- 278 yards labelled256.94m and281 yards labelled282.55m conflict; no calculator activation until reconciled.
- Holiday eve overlap and legal effective date not established by page update date.
- Future 2027/2028 phases are not current September 2026 limits. Full exemption/special-vehicle specifications and fees not reverified.