If you wish to take bookings for private hire (including day-to-day private hire work such as taking customers to the shop or taking people home after a night out, or for longer trips such as taking customers to and from an airport) you'll need to apply for a private hire operator licence.
Please note that this licence doesn't allow you to drive a licensed vehicle - to do so you must hold a dual taxi and private hire licence with our authority:
- If you wish to work for yourself and take your own bookings, you'll need a dual driver licence, vehicle licence and operator licence.
- If you're a driver wanting to work for other companies, you don't need an operator licence.
- If you wish to be an operator but don’t intend to drive, you don't need a dual driver licence.
Private hire operators licensed with our authority must have a physical base of operations within the borough.
Also note that a private hire operator licence in and of itself doesn't allow you or any drivers you employ to work as a "taxi driver" or ply for hire. For example, you aren't allowed to use the rank and all customers must be pre-booked. You must have a licensed hackney carriage to be able to pick up customers without booking or to use the rank.
We'll grant you a licence if:
- We're satisfied that you're a fit and proper person to hold such a licence and meet the necessary application criteria.
- We're sure that the operation of the business will not cause a nuisance or obstruction problems to neighbouring premises. You'll be asked to evidence planning permission or consent to use the premises for private hire operator business use.
- The physical base of operations is within the Barnsley borough.
- The name of the operator is suitable.
Charges
A one-year private hire operator licence is £63. A five-year licence is £127.
The same fee applies regardless of the number of vehicles in use.
Name of operator
When choosing an operator trading name, we advise that:
- The name cannot include the words "cab" or "taxi" or any variation of these words, whether in
the singular or plural, or any such other words that may be similar in meaning or appearance to either of those words, whether alone or as part of another word(s). - The name cannot be the same or substantially similar to any other currently licensed operator.
These measures are to prevent any confusion to members of the public.
Before applying please read through our taxi and private hire licensing policy.
Apply for or renew an operator licence
To apply for a new operator licence you need to:
- have a premises in Barnsley that's accessible to licensing officers for inspection
- pass a basic DBS check issued within 28 days of the date you submit your licence application. If you're a currently licensed driver with our authority, you don't need to provide a basic DBS check.
- confirm your tax responsibilities by either:
- confirming you're aware of your tax registration obligations (Pay As You Earn, Self Assessment and/or Corporation Tax). This applies if you're applying for a licence for the first time. You can also do this if you've previously held a licence but this ceased to be valid over a year ago.
- providing a tax check code from the GOV.UK website. This applies if you've previously held an operator licence that ceased to be valid less than a year ago. You can also do this if you already hold an operator licence with another licensing authority.
- provide a photographic proof of identity. For example: a valid passport, driving licence or UK residence card.
- have permission from the landlord if you're going to run the business from a council house or other rented property.
- provide evidence that planning permission is either not required, or has been granted, for the premises you want to use. Any fees for this are separate to the operator licence fee.
If you already have an operator licence and want to renew it, your existing basic DBS check certificate must be valid on the date your current licence expires. If not, you must have a new basic DBS check. You'll need upload a copy of your new certificate as part of your renewal. You'll also need to provide a tax check code from the GOV.UK website. This is to confirm you're registered for tax.
If more than one person is applying for the licence, please also fill in our additional name consent form. This needs to be filled in for each extra person you want to add to the licence. You need to upload the consent form as part of your application. The online form should be completed in one person's name only.
You can upload any documents, such as DBS check certificates, in the online form.
If your application's successful we'll email your new licence to you. You'll usually receive this within 10 working days. We'll email you if we need any more information from you to process your application.
If your application's not successful we'll email you to let you know the reason for our decision.