Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Drivers – Convictions Policy

Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Vehicle Drivers are in a position of trust in respect of the safety and welfare of their passengers.



The Licensing Authority, through its Licensing Team and Regulatory Sub-Committee, has to ensure that hackney carriage and private hire drivers are ‘fit and proper’ to undertake their work as licensed drivers.



It is considered good practice to produce guidelines of this kind to assist decision-making and allow applicants to understand, in advance, what the Licensing Authority would generally consider to be acceptable when judging a candidate’s fitness for licensing.



The council’s existing relevance of convictions guidelines were adopted in 2008 although numerous amendments have been made since 2013. As with all policies, it is important that the guidelines are reviewed from time to time to ensure that they reflect current legal requirements, best practice, and developments resulting from changes to legislation.