These Regulations, which are made under powers conferred by the Private Hire Vehicles (London) Act 1998 (“the 1998 Act”), make provision for the licensing of private hire vehicle operators in London.
Part I (regulations 1 and 2) contains general provisions covering citation, commencement and interpretation.
Part II prescribes matters relating to applications for the grant or variation of a private hire vehicle operator’s licence for London (“a London PHV operator’s licence”). In particular—
regulation 3 requires an application to be made on a form supplied by the licensing authority, to contain information and declarations required by that form, to be signed as specified and to be accompanied by the appropriate application fee;
regulation 4 prescribes the fees payable on an application for the grant or variation of a London PHV operator’s licence; and
regulation 5 deals with the determination of an application and sets out the manner in which the applicant must be notified of the licensing authority’s decision.
Part III prescribes various matters relating to London PHV operator’s licences and in particular—
regulation 6 provides for the grant or variation of a licence upon receipt of the appropriate fee within the time limits specified and for the licence or any replacement licence to be sent to the applicant;
regulation 7 prescribes the fees payable on the grant of a licence and makes provision for a reduced fee in the case of an operator who has no more than two vehicles available to him at all of his operating centres;
regulation 8 provides for the refund of fees in certain circumstances; and
regulation 9 prescribes the conditions subject to which every licence is granted.
Part IV contains provisions about the keeping and preservation of records. In particular—
regulation 10 provides that the record of the private hire bookings accepted by an operator, which he is required to keep under section 4(3)(b) of the 1998 Act, shall be in writing or in such other form that the information contained in it can easily be reduced to writing;
regulation 11 prescribes the particulars of each private hire booking which must be entered in that record;
regulations 12 and 13 require an operator to keep records at each operating centre specified in his licence of the particulars of the private hire vehicles and drivers which are available to him for carrying out bookings accepted by him at that centre, and prescribe the particulars to be contained in those records;
regulations 14 and 15, in conjunction with regulation 9(7), require an operator to keep records of complaints and lost property and set out the particulars to be contained in those records; and
regulation 16 prescribes the periods for which records, which are mandatory by virtue of section 4 of the 1998 Act, must be preserved, and specifies the periods for which other records must be kept.
Part V deals with other matters relating to London PHV operators' licences. In particular—
regulation 17 makes provision for the register of licences maintained under section 23 of the 1998 Act to contain, in addition to the particulars set out in subsection (1)(a) of that section, the address of each operating centre specified in a London PHV operator’s licence and an indication as to whether that licence is current, suspended or revoked;
regulation 18 provides for the issue in certain circumstances of replacement licences;
regulation 19 provides for the temporary continuation of a licence in certain specified circumstances of death, mental disorder and insolvency;
regulation 20 sets out transitional provisions which will enable temporary permits to be issued and temporary variations to be made in certain cases.
A regulatory impact assessment has been prepared and copies can be obtained from the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions, Zone 3/12, Great Minster House, 76 Marsham Street, London SW1P 4DR (Telephone: 020 7944 2293). A copy has been placed in the library of each House of Parliament.