RESEARCHED AUTHORITY
Tonbridge and Malling
Tonbridge and Malling Council · Sources checked 13 September 2026
- Driver licensing
- Official route/source found
Pass knowledge before applying. From 1 August 2026 new applicants must join DBS Update, checked every six months. Medical required on application, every three years and annually after 65.
- Vehicle licensing
- Official route/source found
Licences last one year and the vehicle must pass MOT/compliance testing every six months. Supply appropriate hire-and-reward insurance and V5, or purchase order/receipt followed by V5 when returned. The council issues a testing voucher; pay the approved garage, pass, then exchange its pink slip for plates. Display an external rear plate and a visible internal plate. Executive-work plate exemption is application-based. The page quotes new HC £316, new PH £305, renewal £293 and exemption £51 annually; garage testing is separate.
- Operator licensing
- Official evidence found; detail still to confirm
The published licence lasts five years and costs £99 per vehicle. Keep a permanent booking register available to council or police inspection. The linked application requires a local trading address, business-premises planning permission or evidence of the right to trade from home, public-liability insurance, staff/driver/vehicle registers, and policies covering ex-offenders and protection of children and vulnerable adults. Outsourced booking services need comparable protections. Booking/dispatch staff require Basic DBS evidence. The form recommends, rather than universally mandates, staff safeguarding/disability training. Email the form, policies and supporting evidence to licensing.services@tmbc.gov.uk.
- Licensing fees
- Official route/source found
Current page lists knowledge £68, three-year single driver licence £311.50 or dual £342.50, including £49.50 enhanced DBS application.
- Taxi tariff
- Official route/source found
Current council chart: £5 for the first 3,520 feet (printed as0.66667 mile), then20p for each started352 feet. Waiting20p per24 seconds or part. The chart lists50% supplements for23:30–06:00, bank/public holidays other than Christmas Day, Easter Sunday, Christmas/New Year's Eves18:00–23:30, and carriage of more than four passengers. Christmas Day carries a100% supplement. Spoilage£100. No debit/credit-card surcharge is allowed, including on a pre-agreed fare. The page does not state a legal effective date or explain whether simultaneous supplements stack; these points remain unverified.
- Mandatory qualifications
- Official route/source found
Driving assessment and virtual safeguarding and disability courses are required; certificates must be submitted.
Withheld or still needing confirmation
- Full vehicle/operator and tariff not extracted; no draft-policy rules presumed adopted.
- Preserve prior verified fields. Partial: linked form unusually specifies Enhanced DBS for a non-driver individual operator but Basic for company directors/partners; confirm correct level with licensing rather than silently normalise this inconsistency. Full current policy not yet reconciled.
- Legal effective date not stated on current page.
- Concurrent calendar/passenger surcharge stacking not defined; avoid assuming multiplication or addition.
- A 2026 policy review exists; no draft changes promoted. Full age/emission and tinted-window policy not reconciled, and page fee effective date is unstated.
- Preserve prior verified fields.