RESEARCHED AUTHORITY
West Lindsey
West Lindsey District Council · Sources checked 13 September 2026
- Driver licensing
- Official route/source found
Prospective drivers are directed to email the licensing team with their name and telephone number so an officer can discuss their plans and arrange an application pack. The council page says applicants must have held a full motor-car driving licence for at least two years.
- Vehicle licensing
- Official route/source found
A licensed hackney carriage must display its white rear plate, roof sign and meter. Only a person holding a valid West Lindsey hackney-carriage or private-hire driver licence may drive it; the council page links the applicable vehicle conditions and current fare downloads.
- Operator licensing
- Official route/source found
Five-year licences require a suitable operating base within West Lindsey and necessary planning consent. Public-liability insurance is needed when the public can access the premises, not for a home operation without public waiting facilities. Submit Basic DBS unless already a licensed driver, application and fee. New applicants acknowledge HMRC responsibilities; renewals supply a tax-check code. There is no vehicle-number cap. Subcontracting does not remove the initial operator's contractual responsibility.
- Licensing fees
- Official route/source found
The council’s published 2025/26 budget schedule lists a three-year driver application at £224, DBS check £38 plus £10 administration, new or renewal vehicle licence £282, and a five-year private-hire operator licence £246. Treat these as the published 2025/26 figures and verify the latest charge before paying.
- Taxi tariff
- Official route/source found
Council's current linked card is effective May 2022. T1: £3.20 first 704 yards, then 40p/352 yards; waiting 30p each started minute. T2: £4.36 first 704 yards, then 60p/352 yards; waiting 40p/minute. T2 applies daily 23:00–07:00, bank holidays, immediately preceding Sunday, and Christmas/New Year's eves until 18:00. T3: £6.40 first 704 yards, then 80p/352 yards; waiting 60p/minute, for Christmas Eve 18:00 through 27 December 08:00 and New Year's Eve 18:00 through 2 January 07:00. Animal extra £1.50; soiling maximum £75. Severe-weather T2 requires written council permission, not automatic weather detection. Exact distance-part rounding and interaction of named holidays with ordinary T2 should be preserved before calculator activation.
- Mandatory qualifications
- Official evidence found; detail still to confirm
The council removed its knowledge-test requirement effective 4 June 2026. Applicants still need two years' full driving entitlement, sufficient English communication, medical fitness and DBS checks. The application pack includes two safeguarding e-learning courses covering safeguarding, exploitation and modern slavery. A Lincolnshire Road Safety Partnership assessment with a low-risk outcome is required where the DVLA licence has six or more live points, rather than being stated as universal. The current-linked general policy adds adequate literacy/numeracy and Group 2 medical evidence. Appendix 4 expressly requires the safeguarding module before initial application and renewal, with an associated code of conduct; the current webpage confirms the courses are available. Existing drivers accumulating six points in three years also require the low-risk driving assessment. Its older knowledge-test appendix is superseded by the explicit 4 June 2026 removal on the current application page.
Withheld or still needing confirmation
- Current operator process, full fare table, mandatory qualification evidence and a 2026/27 fee schedule were not verified in this batch.
- Preserve previous fields. The older linked form prints £223; not promoted as a current fee without current schedule confirmation. Full staff conditions remain unverified.
- Disability-awareness certificate and safeguarding refresher cadence not established from the current page.
- Safeguarding renewal requirement recovered. A separate mandatory disability-awareness qualification remains unestablished; current linked policy has no explicit clause, which does not prove exemption.
- Distance-part rounding not inferred from the available visual extraction; calendar and severe-weather permission require explicit implementation.