Existing private hire operator

As a licensed operator, you must notify us of any changes to your status, as stated in your licence issue letter. For general guidance, updates and information on our policy and private hire law in London, you are advised to review this page frequently.

Licensing requirements changed on 1 July 2024 

Find information and guidance in our notice on the new requirements (PDF 196KB).

Private hire operators' contracts with passengers - regulation and guidance  

Following a judgment given by the Divisional Court on 6 December 2021, all London PHV operators are required to contract directly with passengers to provide the journey that is the subject of a booking.

We have made a regulation to raise awareness that London PHV operators are required to contract directly with passengers to provide the journey that is the subject of a booking.

Regulation 9(14) of the Private Hire Vehicles (London) (Operators' Licences) Regulations 2000 states:

"The operator shall enter into a contractual obligation as principal with the person making the private hire booking to provide the journey which is the subject of the booking and any such contractual obligation must be consistent with the 1998 Act and these Regulations."

We have also published guidance to assist London PHV operators in relation to considering whether their terms and ways of working need to be changed to ensure they are compliant. 

The guidance looks at what operators' responsibilities are when they contract with passengers, how the law applies in practice (whether or not they have written contracts) and what TfL is doing to help ensure compliance. The guidance will be kept under review and may be updated from time to time.

We have also revised our guidance on operating model changes to reflect the new requirement and guidance above. The guidance also now requests operators notify TfL of any operating model change at the earliest opportunity and no later than 28 days before the operator plans to introduce the change.

Voice contact requirement - guidance

Operators are required to make a person available for passengers to speak to during operating hours, and when a journey is being undertaken. This can be at the operating centre or any other premises with a fixed address in London or elsewhere. We call this the voice contact requirement.

As a licensed operator, you will need to confirm your intended hours of business and when you will be offering bookings. We will require evidence showing how a person will be available for the passenger to speak to during these times. Please consider how you will achieve this for night work and weekends when your office may not be open.

We will check that the facility is in place as part of any compliance check made during the duration of your licence.

To support you in providing us with the relevant information, it is important that you read and fully understand the "Voice contact requirement guidance for private hire operators" document.

Contact the operator licensing team at TPHOperators@tfl.gov.uk if you have any questions or require clarification.

Notifying us about a serious complaint or driver dismissal

If you have to dismiss a driver because of his or her unsatisfactory conduct in connection with the driving of a PHV you must, as a condition of your licence, notify TfL in writing of the name of the driver and the circumstances of the case within 14 days.

Form PHV/105 is available for this purpose.

You can also use our PHV/105 form to notify us of any serious complaints that you receive about a driver that is currently working for or has worked for you. To support you in providing us with this information, it is important that you read and fully understand the "Guidance on reporting crime" document should you need to report a serious complaint or concern.

Please return the completed form to TPHlicensingsupport@tfl.gov.uk or:

London Taxi and Private Hire
PO Box 177
Sheffield S98 1JY

Operator handbook

Our operator handbook contains important information for licensed operators. All licensed operators are strongly advised to review the material and refer to the guide as and when necessary. It contains useful information and advice on a range of important subjects including legislation and licensing requirements.

Renewing your licence 

Your operator's licence lasts for five years unless we have advised differently. You will need to apply for a new licence before your current one runs out and will receive a pre-renewal reminder six months before your current licence runs out. 

We will automatically send you a re-licensing pack approximately four months before your current licence runs out. It is important that you submit the renewal application forms as soon as you can. Any delay may affect your application being assessed and affect your ability to continue trading.

The current licence is only for use by the specified holder of that licence until its expiry date. If a new licence has not been obtained by that date, the business will have to stop trading.

How to renew your licence

Once you've received the renewal application form from us:

  • Read and fully and understand the "Operator licensing guidance notes (PHV/102)" document, which is available on our policy page. The PHV/102 contains vital information about the application and renewal process

  • Complete each application form and sign the declarations in each enclosed application form 

  • Make sure you send in the completed application forms, all supplementary evidence and the necessary fees with your submission or your application may be rejected

  • Separately, return your old licence to us within seven days of it expiring

Contact us at TPHOperators@tfl.gov.uk if you have any questions or require assistance.

When can I expect a decision to be made?

A typical application can take between 8-16 weeks to process, depending on the circumstances of each application. Applications requiring further information to determine the suitability of the application can take significantly longer to process. We will inform you should this be the case with your application.

Please note the following:

  • If you do not wish to renew your licence, please confirm this to us in writing as soon as you are aware.
  • Please note: It is important that you submit the renewal application forms as soon as you can. Any delay in submission may affect your application being assessed and affect your ability to continue trading. If you fail to do so, you may lose your entitlement to work as a London private hire operator. 

Receiving your new licence

Should your application be successful, we will send you your new licence shortly before your current one runs out, as long as there are no problems with your application.
Your new licence will start from the day after the expiry of your existing licence providing that we are able to make an immediate decision.

Reporting changes in circumstances

Operator licence type changes

The application and grant of licence fees payable by operators are determined by the number of vehicles an operator has available to carry out bookings. This number is specified on all licences issued after 3 October 2017. If this applies to you, and you expect to have more vehicles available than the permitted maximum, you will need to apply for a new licence. You may be entitled to a refund for a proportion of the grant of licence fee for your existing licence.

Alternatively, if you expect permanently to have fewer vehicles available than the permitted maximum on your licence, you may apply for a new licence. In some circumstances this may mean that a refund of a proportion of the grant of licence fee is payable.

Refunds are calculated based on the number of whole months remaining on the licence at the point at which the licence is surrendered (and a new licence issued), for which a licence fee has been paid. In both of these cases you should contact us at TPHOperators@tfl.gov.uk to discuss in the first instance.

Other details changes

You should notify us about any changes you intend to make to your operator licence. This includes:

  • Changes to the type of services you will be offering to customers , the way you intend to take your bookings and/or any other facilities you are looking to offer. Read more detailed information about this requirement
  • Changes to any of the people who are currently associated with the licence, for example if you want to add new, or remove existing, people from the licence. This would be in relation to the nominated representative for the licence, directors or partners
  • Telling us if you no longer wish to be a licensed operator
  • Where you need to add new people to the licence, each new person will need to obtain and complete a PHV/103 Personal Declaration form. This form should be requested and returned to us for assessment prior to the named person being associated with your licence

You can obtain a PHV/103 Personal Declaration form by contacting us at TPHOperators@tfl.gov.uk. 

Licence variations

You may only accept private hire bookings at the operating centres specified on your licence. You must submit a licence variation application (PHV/106) if you wish to:

  • Move your business to a new operating centre. We refer to this as you wanting to 'change' your existing operating centre to a new one
  • Trade from an additional operating centre. We refer to this as you wanting to 'add' a new operating centre to your licence
  • Stop trading from one, but not all, of the operating centres on your licence. We refer to this as you wanting to 'remove' an operating centre from your licence
  • New centres will need to be inspected and approved by us before being permitted to be added to your licence

To apply to vary your licence, you will need to submit:

  • The correct fee (payment by bank transfer (BACS))
  • A completed PHV/106 variation application form

You can obtain a PHV/106 variation application form by contacting us at TPHOperators@tfl.gov.uk.

Variation fees

  • Change an existing operating centre: £300
  • Remove an operating centre: £50
  • Add an additional operating centre: £300

Your completed PHV/106 form and payment will need to be returned to:

London Taxi and Private Hire
PO Box 177
Sheffield S98 1JY

Operator upload requirement

Following amendments to the private hire regulations, as a licensed private hire operator you are required to provide us with the details of the vehicles and drivers you have used to fulfil private hire bookings, or have had available to you to fulfil bookings on a weekly basis. We will use the information provided for data analysis.

Each Monday, all operators are required to provide the relevant data for the previous week. When the Monday is a Bank Holiday, the data can be provided on the next day.

To support you in providing us with the relevant data, it is important that you read and fully understand the "Operator upload guidance notes" document before you begin. Submit your weekly upload, beginning by registering online.

Approved templates have been provided for you to upload your vehicle and driver data as per the conditions of your licence. ‎You will need to enter the private hire driver and vehicle details as they appear on the private hire driver and vehicle paper licences.

Contact us at TPHOperators@tfl.gov.uk if you have any questions or require assistance.

Useful links

Please visit our policy page for a list of useful documents including the "Policy statement: Private hire services in London" which is about ride-sharing services, "Privacy & data protection guideline for private hire operators" and the "Taxi advertising and private hire vehicle signage guidelines". Our compliance page contains further information, including a document detailing the compliance inspection process, entitled "Operator Compliance Inspections".

Find out how to contact us or complain.