RESEARCHED AUTHORITY
Stockport
Stockport Council · Sources checked 13 September 2026
- Driver licensing
- Official route/source found
Private-hire and hackney applicants must be over 21 and have held a driving licence for more than 12 months. Before applying they need a Stockport knowledge-test pass from the previous 12 months, an enhanced DBS certificate with Update Service subscription, and a medical report issued within 28 days. The upload checklist also requires a driving-standards certificate, DVLA code, right-to-work and National Insurance evidence, address/photo evidence, convictions declaration, and an authenticated certificate of good conduct after specified overseas residence. The published new-licence fee is £184 for one year or £225 for three. Licensed drivers submit medical evidence every five years and annually over 65, keep the DBS subscription live, and register with HMRC before renewal.
- Vehicle licensing
- Official evidence found; detail still to confirm
The current private-hire vehicle route, updated 25 March 2026, requires the supporting vehicle documents, a non-refundable £190 one-year fee and a booked taxi vehicle test after application.
- Operator licensing
- Official evidence found; detail still to confirm
The live operator guidance, last updated 21 May 2025, asks new and renewing applicants for a business plan covering their Stockport base, bookings, records, hours and geographic area. New applications require planning evidence; public-access premises need at least £2 million public-liability insurance, plus employers' liability where applicable. The checklist explicitly accepts basic or enhanced DBS within 28 days for new applicants and within three years for renewals, alongside conviction declarations, identity/right-to-work evidence, vehicle schedule, tariff scale, maintenance contract and hire insurance. Overseas good-conduct evidence applies where UK residence is under five years or an applicant spent six continuous months abroad since age ten. Executive plate-exemption applicants additionally explain the different business model. The page describes a one-year licence; this remains unreconciled with the complete operator policy, so no definitive term or generic annual DBS rule is inferred.
- Licensing fees
- Official evidence found; detail still to confirm
The council fee page lists driver, vehicle and operator charges and states it was last updated 1 October 2024. Examples include £225 for a new three-year driver licence, £190 for a new private-hire vehicle and banded operator fees; check the live page before payment in case a newer schedule applies.
- Taxi tariff
- Official evidence found; detail still to confirm
PHTM's September 2026 comparison lists Stockport's tariff-one two-mile fare as £7.80. This is a benchmark, not a complete metered-fare schedule. The official November 2024 review proposed altering initial yardages, adding20p to tariff1 first/subsequent miles, and leaving tariff2's first-mile charge unchanged; the executive decision approved implementation subject to statutory consultation. The numeric appendix and final operative card could not be safely recovered. Current council passenger guidance confirms council-regulated fares but does not supply the full numbers. Do not reconstruct pulse distances, tariff hours, waiting or extras from the proposal's relative changes or the single £7.80 benchmark.
- Mandatory qualifications
- Official evidence found; detail still to confirm
The private-hire knowledge test lasts 90 minutes under examination conditions with no reference materials. Sections cover licensing/road law, responsibilities, map reading, communication and arithmetic; section pass marks range from 80% to 100%. A failed candidate waits at least four weeks before retesting. The council has separate hackney, private-hire, executive and assisted-hire tests; applicants for multiple classes take the relevant tests separately. Safeguarding/practical qualifications and renewal refresher requirements remain to be verified.
Withheld or still needing confirmation
- Driver qualification detail, operator workflow and numeric hackney tariff remain to be verified from current primary sources.
- This driver-route summary is not a substitute for the current application form or an exhaustive statement of licence conditions.
- Preserve previous fields. One-year term on current page requires reconciliation with full operator policy before treating term as definitive; coverage kept partial. Numeric fees not refreshed.
- Current page's one-year term and three-year renewal DBS age require reconciliation with full operative operator policy; direct fetch hit a headers-overflow failure.
- Qualification subset verified only; remaining class-specific or refresher details require review.
- Full current fare-card numbers, final consultation outcome and exact operative date unresolved.
- Secondary benchmark is not calculator-ready and does not verify full official tariff.