RESEARCHED AUTHORITY
South Derbyshire
South Derbyshire District Council · Sources checked 10 September 2026
- Driver licensing
- Official route/source found
South Derbyshire currently licenses private-hire drivers, not hackney-carriage drivers. Applicants must be fit and proper, medically fit and have held a full UK driving licence for at least 12 months. First complete the Enhanced DBS and book and pass the council knowledge test, then submit the complete driver application with the required identity, right-to-work, medical, eyesight, DVLA, practical-driving, local-knowledge, photograph and any overseas good-conduct evidence. The council aims to decide valid complete applications within ten working days.
- Vehicle licensing
- Official route/source found
A new private-hire vehicle must be under 15 years old, suitable, safe, mechanically sound, appropriately insured and not resemble a hackney carriage. Book and pass the council depot test, then submit the application with the required ownership, insurance and supporting documents. The licence lasts one year and a further depot test is due after six months. The council states that all private-hire vehicles must meet Euro 6 emissions standards from 1 January 2027.
- Operator licensing
- Official route/source found
A five-year private-hire operator licence requires a complete application and fee plus a recent Basic DBS for each relevant applicant, director or company secretary, planning and contractual evidence for the base, right-to-work documents, applicable public and employers' liability insurance, staff and vetting information, DVLA evidence and the applicable tax-check code. The council aims to decide a valid complete application within ten working days after assessing whether the applicant is fit and proper.
- Licensing fees
- Official route/source found
The council publishes a 2026/27 fee column but does not state the exact commencement date on this page. A private-hire driver licence is £265 for three years, £190 for two years or £135 for one year; the knowledge test is £38.40. A vehicle licence is £190 and the depot test booking page identifies £31 due initially with the £159 balance on application. Five-year operator fees are £382 for one to five vehicles, £505 for six to twenty, £684 for twenty-one to fifty and £893 for fifty-one or more.
- Taxi tariff
- Official route/source found
Tariff content checked 23 October 2026. The council’s current official page states that it does not currently issue hackney-carriage licences. Its licensed private-hire journeys must be booked through an operator, whose fare should be agreed for the booking. There is therefore no applicable council hackney-carriage tariff to model here; this is not merely an unresolved fare-card download. No zero fare or operator price is inferred.
- Mandatory qualifications
- Official route/source found
New drivers must pass the council local-knowledge test and an approved practical driving assessment, provide current medical and eye-examination certificates, maintain Enhanced DBS Update Service registration for six-monthly council checks, and provide DVLA and right-to-work evidence. Child sexual-exploitation awareness training is required within six months and refreshed every three years; disability-awareness training is also required within six months unless accepted equivalent evidence is supplied.
Withheld or still needing confirmation
- The 2026/27 fee column does not state a precise commencement date, so its numeric figures are released with an explicit effective-date gap.
- External charges for DBS, medical, eye examination, practical assessment and disability-awareness training may change and are not treated as council licence fees.
- The driver page contains inconsistent prose referring once to an annual online criminal-record check after separately stating checks every six months. The public summary uses the council's explicit six-monthly check statement and does not repeat the inconsistent annual wording.