Taxi and private hire licensing

Following the formation of Cumberland Council a draft taxi and private hire policy has been prepared covering the Cumberland Council area. For further information, please click this link.

There are two types of taxi licence: hackney carriage and private hire.

We license hackney carriage vehicles (taxis), private hire vehicles, their drivers and operators.

The laws covering hackney carriages and private hire vehicles are different.

In brief, a hackney can:

• stand on a rank
• be flagged down in the street
• be booked through a licensed operator.

A private hire vehicle can only accept pre-booked calls.

If a private hire driver picks up from a rank or from being flagged down, they are committing an offence and their insurance may be invalid.