Guidance for taxi and private hire passengers

How to tell if a Taxi or Private Hire Vehicle is Licensed with Tewkesbury Borough Council?

Taxi Vehicle:

• Taxis can be flagged down and can be found at the ranks in Tewkesbury Borough.
• They can also be pre-booked in advance with the taxi operator.
• They have a roof light with the word TAXI on.
• They have a yellow plate affixed to the rear and a smaller version affixed to the windscreen which carry details of the expiry date, licence number and vehicle registration.

Private Hire Vehicle:

• Must be pre-booked through a licensed operator.
• They have a blue plate affixed to the rear and a smaller version affixed to the windscreen which carry details of the expiry date, licence number and vehicle registration.
• They are not permitted to display a roof sign.
• Members of the public can often confuse private hire vehicles with hackney carriages, without realising that private hire vehicles are not available for immediate hire or allowed to be hailed in the street. It is therefore important that the public can easily distinguish each type of vehicle, for this reason, private hire vehicles must not display any roof signs and hackney carriage vehicles must display roof signs as specified elsewhere in the policy.
• Both hackney carriages and private hire vehicles must display a licence plate on the outside rear of the vehicle. We may use different colours and different styles for hackney carriage and private hire vehicles.
• The external licence plate shall be securely fixed to the outside and rear of the vehicle either by Direct Fixing, e.g., screw, bolt, or rivet, or on a secure bracket. Temporary fixing such as Magnets or Velcro is not allowed.

Taxi and Private Hire Drivers:

• Will be wearing a Tewkesbury Borough Council badge with their photo, badge number, name and expiry.
• They should display a second driver badge on their dashboard or somewhere at the front of the vehicle.
• All Tewkesbury Borough Council licensed drivers undergo regular checks to make sure they are suitable to carry members of the public.

Benefits of Pre-booking a Taxi/Private Hire Vehicle:

• Arranged safe travel home without having to wait if there aren’t any taxis on a rank.
• Arrange a safe meeting point to be picked up at.
• Requesting at the time of booking what the fare is likely to be.

How to be safe in a Taxi/Private Hire Vehicle:

• Confirm the booking with the driver when the vehicle arrives.
• Note the licence number down from the plate on the rear of the vehicle or the disc showing inside the front windscreen.
• Sit in the back behind the driver.
• Let a third party know details of the journey you are taking.