Private Hire Rules and Regulations

As of Monday 27 June, London's Port of London Airport has promised to introduce new changes to its rules for private rentals. It concerns all private commercial chauffeurs, managers and owners of private car hire licences and all persons applying for a private commercial chauffeur, manager or driving authorisation. Most importantly, the binding requirements are that all private rental cars must have rental and premium insurances both at the moment of licensing and for the whole duration of licensing, even if the car is not used as a private rental car.

Every car will be inspected only if it is covered by wage and salary insurances at the time of license. It is also necessary to have your payroll security available when your car visits the test center. You will not receive a new or renewed license if you do not have the appropriate wage and salary assurance.

You have until July 11 if you are an current license holder, to make sure that you have an instalment policy in place that is effective until your license expiry date. Insured data must be taken along by the rider or shown in the car. A private rental driving license of a private individual whose private rental driving license has been withdrawn shall be taken into account for cancellation.

If an authorised driver's private hire driving license is withdrawn or surrendered and that person is the holder of one or more registered cars, the withdrawal or surrender of his/her driving license(s) will be considered, according to personal circumstance. In addition, new signposting rules are adopted, prohibiting the display of signposts or promotional materials "from, in or on a private rental vehicle" unless exempted or authorised by the TfL.

It is a modification of the former ordinance, which did not allow the affixing of plates or promotional items on a private rental car. As a result of the changes, you will no longer be able to exhibit tags or promotional items from or in your private rental car unless it is exempted or authorized - although the German Traffic Licensing Authority (TfL) authorizes its cab advertisements and the P.H.V. regulations for tags are "currently under review".

As from 1 October, all new candidates and current private commercial driver who renew their driving licences and do not come from an English-speaking nation will have to fulfil a new requirements for the use of the British language. When submitting a new or renewed request, the applicant must provide a current certification in the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) in one of the following languages: German, French, Italian, Italian, Spanish, Italian, Italian, Spanish, Italian, Spanish, Italian, Spanish, Italian, Spanish, Italian, Italian, Spanish, Spanish, Italian, Italian, Spanish, Italian, Spanish, Italian, Spanish, Italian, Spanish, Spanish, Italian, Italian, Spanish, Spanish, Spanish, Italian, Spanish, Italian, Spanish, Italian, Spanish, Italian, Italian, Spanish, Italian, Italian, Italian, Spanish, Italian, Italian, Italian, Italian, Italian, Italian, Italian, Italian, Italian, Italian, Spanish, Italian, Spanish, Italian, Italian, Italian, Spanish, Italian, Italian, Italian, Italian, Italian

No license will be issued to anyone who does not have the appropriate knowledge of English. As of 1 October, all private hire car drivers must inform the TÜV of their social security number when they apply for or renew their driving licences. The private landlord must present a reservation certificate to a traveller before departure.

Carriers are required to ask for customer details and quote a reservation receipt for all reservations. At least one reservation acknowledgement must be made available to customers by e-mail, text (SMS and MMS) and telephone by all carriers, irrespective of the reservation channel offered by the carrier.

At least the reservation must contain a confirmation: Wherever the passengers can see it, a photograph of the rider. When the client makes a reservation in person or via fixed line, a photograph must be provided if the client wishes to confirm via a communication medium capable of delivering an Image, such as e-mail or mobile telephone.

The private landlord must make sure that the passenger can talk (orally) to someone in their operation center if they wish to make a claim or otherwise talk about their reservation. In the course of the reservation procedure, information must be made available to the customer on how to talk to the carrier during the itinerary.

Within the framework of the pre-approval visit to the operations center, the regulatory affairs department must make sure that a passenger dialogue facility is in place. However, the client must be able to talk to a different individual than the chauffeur making the reservation and must be in a London Operations Center.

Carriers are required to respond and solve passengers' enquiries in a timely fashion and to indicate how a grievance can be forwarded to us if the customer is not satisfied with the way the enquiry has been solved. Starting June 27, 2016, private landlords will have to notify us of any changes to their company's operational models before they become active.

It will help to make the changes consistent with the private rental rules and in the interest of passengers' security. Owners are already obliged to notify us of a number of changes to their operational models relating to the scale or geographical position of their businesses. It is an extension of these reqirements to make sure that TMR is informed of significant changes in the functioning of the organization that affect the general population and its regulatory responsibilities.

For example, the implementation or elimination of an app-based reservation services, the implementation or elimination of a billing system or reservation methodology, or the implementation of carpooling. The operator must make sure that all employees who have personal contacts with the general public for example in a publicly accessible mini-cab bureau have a basic disclosure audit - or evidence they have requested - available through Disclosure Scotland.

That is in additon to the requirements that private hired driver must carry out an extended inspection of the disclosure and blocking service. There are a number of other changes that require all operator to send by e-mail information on driver and vehicle TfLs that they have used or had at their disposal to make reservations.

Carriers must also submit an exact price quote to their customers before departure (unless the price has been previously agreed); the principal place of travel of the customers must be captured before departure. If a trip has more than one drop-off point, a primary objective must continue to be indicated and drivers are restricted to adding no more than five trade marks to their driving licences.