Regulation of drivers of private hire vehicles in London
12 Requirement for private hire vehicle driver’s licence.
(1)
No vehicle shall be used as a private hire vehicle on a road in London unless the driver holds a private hire vehicle driver’s licence.
(2)
The driver and operator of a vehicle used in contravention of this section are each guilty of an offence.
(3)
The owner of a vehicle who permits it to be used in contravention of this section is guilty of an offence.
(4)
It is a defence in proceedings against the operator of a vehicle for an offence under subsection (2) for the operator to show that he exercised all due diligence to prevent the vehicle being used in contravention of this section.
(5)
A person guilty of an offence under this section is liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 4 on the standard scale.
(6)
In this section “private hire vehicle driver’s licence” means—
(a)
except where paragraph (b) or (c) applies, a London PHV driver’s licence;
(b)
if the vehicle is in use for the purposes of a hiring the booking for which was accepted outside London in a controlled district in England and Wales, a licence under section 51 of the 1976 Act issued by the council for that district; and
(c)
if the vehicle is in use for a hiring the booking for which was accepted in Scotland, a licence under section 13 of the 1982 Act,
and for the purposes of paragraph (b) or (c) it is immaterial that the booking in question is a sub-contracted booking.
(7)
This section does not apply to the use of a vehicle for the purposes of a hiring for a journey beginning outside London in an area of England and Wales which is not a controlled district.