RESEARCHED AUTHORITY
Uttlesford
Uttlesford Council · Sources checked 13 September 2026
- Driver licensing
- Official evidence found; detail still to confirm
The council policy available at the checked official URL says a new applicant must have held a full UK driving licence for three years and pass the council-approved driving test. The policy URL carries a 2023 document timestamp, so applicants should confirm that no later operative policy changes these conditions.
- Vehicle licensing
- Official evidence found; detail still to confirm
In its 2026 Department for Transport return, Uttlesford reported emissions standards for taxis and private-hire vehicles and permitted CCTV in both fleets. It reported no taxi quantity limit, rear-window light-transmission threshold, daily roadworthiness-check requirement or DBS requirement for non-driver vehicle owners. This authority-reported snapshot is not a complete application specification; confirm exact emissions thresholds, inspections, documents and fees with the council.
- Operator licensing
- Official evidence found; detail still to confirm
The council's May 2023 operator application form asks for the proposed Uttlesford business type, whether the public can access the premises, premises equipment and facilities, renewal fleet composition and wheelchair-accessible numbers, and details of any booking app. App operators must explain who accepts and dispatches bookings, where records are stored, how the booking remains the operator's contract, how the driver/vehicle/operator triple-lock is maintained, and what licensing and vehicle information passengers receive. The published licensing policy requires booking-office or other staff with access to passenger information to meet the operator suitability standard, using Basic DBS checks and statutory declarations; failure to vet staff can lead to revocation. These are official substantive operator requirements, but the artifacts carry 2023 timestamps and a newer full application/conditions set has not been independently confirmed, so this remains partial. The earlier misplaced driver-training text is not an operator requirement and is superseded by this field correction.
- Licensing fees
- Official evidence found; detail still to confirm
Secondary evidence only: TaxiTools, checked 1 August 2026, reports driver new/renewal £259 for three years; annual HC/PH vehicle £167.50 new or £147 renewal; operator new/renewal £556 for five years. Its linked current council fees page could not be retrieved. The official decision index records 2026/27 fees as approved, but the final numeric adoption table has not been independently matched to these figures. Confirm directly before payment.
- Taxi tariff
- Official route/source found
The approved 2025 six-band tariff is corroborated by 2 October 2025 council minutes recording meter updates following the approved increase; the exact commencement day was not recovered. All bands include the first 1,100 yards, then charge each 70.4 yards: R1 £5.40 +10p; R2 £6.75 +15p; R3 £9 +20p; multiseat R4 £7.65 +15p; R5 £9 +20p; R6 £11.25 +26p. Waiting: R1 10p/10.6 seconds; R2/R4 15p/15.9 seconds; R3/R5 20p/21.2 seconds; R6 26p/27.5 seconds. R1/R4: Monday–Saturday 07:00–22:30; R2/R5: 22:30–07:00 Monday–Saturday, midnight Saturday through Monday 07:00, and public holidays. R3/R6: Christmas Eve 06:00 through midnight Boxing Day, and New Year's Eve 18:00 through midnight New Year's Day. Band mapping is retained from the official preceding table and unchanged in the approved proposal. Exact multiseat threshold, extras, initial time allowance and pulse rounding need the full operative card before automated pricing.
- Mandatory qualifications
- Official evidence found; detail still to confirm
The recovered council policy requires new applicants to have held a full UK driving licence for three years and pass a council-approved driving test. Section 2.15 applies the training-day requirement to first applications and renewals, before grant or within the council-specified timeframe. Appendix L covers customer service, safety, legislation, disability awareness and safeguarding. Both private-hire and dual applicants take the course knowledge assessment; only dual applicants take the additional district-geography test. Mixed written and multiple-choice answers assess written English. Bespoke home-to-school training has no final test; it must not be confused with an unrestricted driver qualification. These are substantive official indexed clauses, but the direct PDF is currently blocked and current hub linkage/latest amendments remain unconfirmed.
Withheld or still needing confirmation
- The official policy URL is accessible and provides substantive dated requirements, but current hub linking or later adoption has not been established.
- Vehicle criteria, fees and hackney-carriage tariff remain withheld pending a current primary source.
- Numeric fees are secondary-source evidence and require direct confirmation; no independent operative official numeric table was recovered.
- Confirm a newer operator application and full ongoing conditions before treating the 2023 documents as exhaustive or fully current.
- Exact current policy linkage and any later amendments or exceptions require confirmation; do not treat indexed policy as full contemporary application certification.
- Exact commencement day and complete operative-card extras/initial-time/rounding remain unverified.
- Do not activate calculator merely from guide evidence; confirm multiseat threshold and full meter semantics.
- Exact emissions thresholds, application documents, inspection schedule and fees are not supplied by the DfT return.