Due to high volumes of private hire driver licence applications and enquiries, we are experiencing longer waiting times than usual.
It may take six to eight weeks to respond to emails, and appointments are currently being scheduled around four to six months in advance.
We appreciate your patience and understanding.
Those within the taxi and private hire vehicle industry can play an important role in spotting and reporting the abuse, exploitation or neglect of children and vulnerable adults. However, this is only the case if they are aware of and alert to the signs of potential abuse and know where to turn to if they suspect that a child or vulnerable adult is at risk of harm or is in immediate danger.
For that reason we require all those who want to obtain a licence to drive taxi or private hire vehicles, to undergo safeguarding and equalities training. Training is mandatory before a licence can be issued, and licence holders have to undertake “refresher” training every three years to ensure their knowledge and awareness is fresh and up to date. It is solely the responsibility of the licence holder to ensure that “refresher” safeguarding courses are undertaken before their current safeguarding certificates expire.
Training courses are currently available to book with the following local authorities in Gloucestershire:
You can undertake the training at any of these locations as the course content is identical. There is information below on how to book onto a course at Tewkesbury Borough Council. Alternatively there are links provided to webpages where you can find out more about undertaking a course being hosted at Cheltenham Borough Council or Gloucester City Council.
Courses will be taking place at Tewkesbury Borough Council on the following dates:
The training takes approximately three hours to complete and courses normally commence at 10:15am. The start time of the training course will be confirmed when your booking is accepted.
To book onto a course taking place at Tewkesbury Borough Council, you will need to pay the course fee of £40.
You can make your payment online. Please make sure to select the payment option called “Licensing Safeguarding Training.”
You then need to email us your receipt with the following details:
Please note, if you pay the fee but do not email us with your receipt and these details, you will not be booked onto a course. Tewkesbury Borough Council reserves the right to deny entry to the safeguarding course to anyone who arrives at a training session without having followed the above instructions and having received confirmation of their training place by email, including in cases where payment has been made of £40 for a course.
We further reserve the right to refuse safeguarding certificates to any individual who attends a safeguarding course, even where the course is sat through in full, where they did so without a prior booking confirmation from the Council. In these cases, the individual will be required to pay for and attend a second safeguarding training course to obtain a certificate.
Safeguarding and equalities training courses for taxi and private hire drivers also take place at Gloucester City Council and Cheltenham Borough Council. These courses are the same as those delivered at Tewkesbury Borough Council, and so applicants and licence holders can undertake a training course at one of these Councils instead if they prefer.
To find out more about attending a safeguarding and equalities training course at either Gloucester City Council or Cheltenham Borough Council, including the latest available dates, please follow the links below:
Safeguarding and equalities training at Gloucester City Council
Safeguarding and equalities training at Cheltenham Borough Council
Once you have successfully completed the training course, you will be issued with a certificate by the Council that hosted the training.
Existing licence holders will need to send this certificate by email to us.
New applicants should bring the certificate along to their Step 2 appointment. Further information on applying for a licence can be found on our New driver licence page.