RESEARCHED AUTHORITY
Westmorland and Furness
Westmorland and Furness Council · Sources checked 13 September 2026
- Driver licensing
- Official evidence found; detail still to confirm
The council’s taxi hub confirms that hackney-carriage and private-hire drivers require council licences. Full Council unanimously adopted the unified Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Policy 2026–2031 to take effect on 3 August 2026, replacing inherited predecessor policies.
- Vehicle licensing
- Official evidence found; detail still to confirm
The council hub confirms separate hackney-carriage and private-hire vehicle licensing and routes applicants by local area. Applicants should use the live council route rather than relying on older predecessor-council material.
- Operator licensing
- Official evidence found; detail still to confirm
The council-hosted harmonised taxi policy section 6 requires new/renewal operator applicants, partners, company directors and secretary to provide basic DBS dated within one month. Annual fresh certificates are due within ten working days of the licence anniversary; new or replacement partners/directors/secretary are notified within seven days with a fresh certificate. Operators register with the ICO and report personal-data loss to the council within 24 hours of loss or discovery, with suspected theft also reported to police. Driver working limits are ten driving hours daily and a thirty-minute break after five-and-a-half driving hours. Subcontracting does not remove the original operator's contractual responsibility and the hirer must be told before the journey. The May 2026 policy adoption/3 August transition is recorded elsewhere in council research, but the exact final operative operator text was not independently reconciled in this pass; these are council-hosted harmonised-policy clauses, not a claim that the older area application guidance is fully superseded in every detail.
- Licensing fees
- Official route/source found
The published schedule applies 1 April 2026–31 March 2027. Its 2026–27 harmonised column lists hackney/private-hire driver fees at £187 for one year, £343 for a new three-year licence and £321 for three-year renewal. Annual hackney vehicles are £214.70 and private-hire vehicles £215, new or renewal. Operators are £346 for one year or £615 for five years, new/renewal. DBS remains at external cost. Dual-driver fees are separately shown in the Barrow column: one-year new/renewal £234/£226 and three-year £367/£371; these are not described as countywide prices.
- Taxi tariff
- Official evidence found; detail still to confirm
Transition warning: Council minutes of 7 May 2026 resolve that the new policy takes effect on 3 August 2026 and legacy hackney byelaws are revoked. The operative status of the following three legacy zone fare artifacts after that date is unresolved; they are dated numeric evidence, not confirmation that separate zones still operate or that any one card is the new authority-wide tariff. Eden's current-linked schedule effective1April2024: £3.20 first0.8mile06:00–23:00 then30p per0.1mile; night23:00–06:00 £4.30 then40p; bank/public holidays including Christmas, Boxing Day, New Year's Day and Easter Sunday until06:00 next day, plus18:00–midnight Christmas/New Year's Eves, £5.40 then50p. Eden waiting£1.10 per started3minutes; soil£100; passenger beyond two50p. South Lakeland April2024/25 calibration document separately prints first1609m £4.20/£6.30/£8.40, then161m increments30p/40p/60p; waiting perminute30p/50p/70p and70p perperson beyond two (or two children under11). Its ordinary band is daily07:00–23:00 except holidays/eves; night23:00–07:00; third band bank holidays and19:00–23:59 Christmas/New Year's Eves. South Lakeland eve daytime wording requires clarification. Barrow's official cards operative1April2024: up-to4-seat vehicle day07:00–23:00 £3.80 first805m then20p per started161m; night£5.60 then40p; bank holidays and Christmas/New Year's Eves£7.50 then50p. Waiting per30seconds10p/20p/20p. For5–8-seat vehicles corresponding flags£5.60/£8.40/£11.10 and pulses40p/60p/80p, waiting20p/30p/40p per30seconds. Barrow soiling£10 outside/max£100 inside; ordinary card adds20p perperson beyond two. This is seat-class-specific, not permission to charge a multi-seat rate solely from passenger headcount.
- Mandatory qualifications
- Official route/source found
The policy adopted on 7 May 2026 took effect on 3 August 2026. Driver applicants must be at least 21 and have held an eligible full driving licence for three years. Requirements include an approved driving-skills assessment, Group 2 medical, council English-communication test, council safeguarding/CSE training, and enhanced DBS covering both barred lists with Update Service registration. The authority-set assessment includes disability awareness and expected standards. No fixed refresher cadence is asserted here; consult the council for transitional arrangements affecting existing licences.
Withheld or still needing confirmation
- Exact current application fees, qualification sequence and the still-zone-specific numeric hackney tariffs require separate current-source review.
- The official 128-page schedule was independently checked at pages 84–87 against its multi-column year and area headers. Preserve the Barrow-only dual-driver column and do not substitute 2025–26 legacy-district prices. Other assessment and medical fees are not included.
- Final adopted operator-text lineage/transition needs confirmation against May2026 decision; decision endpoint currently403.
- No invented refresher cadence or automatic retrospective application to existing badges.
- Resolve the operative fare table and zone arrangements after the 3 August 2026 policy/byelaw transition before presenting legacy numeric cards as current.
- All three zones have numeric artifacts, but dated calibration/currentness and holiday/rounding gaps prevent claiming fully verified authority-wide tariff.
- Distance increment rounding and South Lakeland holiday/eve precedence need exact current card confirmation.
- Eden current-linked; South Lakeland2024/25 calibration artifact requires updated linkage/currentness recheck; no authority-wide calculator activation.