Taxi and Private Hire Office

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Taxi- and private rental licenses

In order to run a taxi or private rental company or to take a taxi, you need a drivers license from us. It is not possible to take a taxi with a private rental license. The licenses are valid for 3 years and you must show proof of identity during the journey. If you want to run a private taxi rental company, you must obtain a license for a private landlord.

Operating licenses are granted for a three-year term. In addition to an operating license, you need a license from us if you open or operate a taxi and private rental book. You are exempted from a license if you do not have more than three cars for rent.

Taxi- and private rental licenses - Advice on the effects of new technologies

Taxi stands can be used by taxi riders and are welcomed on the road and prebooked. A private rental vehicle cannot be rented in this way and must be reserved in advance. Taxi and private rental vehicle chauffeurs are registered under the 1982 Act. Taxi and private rental vehicles are permitted by the regional government.

Under the 1982 Act, the authorising body is the competent authorities in whose territory the authorised activities take place. Manage the license system, specifying terms and condition of licences locally, and enforcing the license system compliance with Scottish police support. Paragraph SA 3 of the 1982 Act also allows Scottish Ministers to lay down binding license terms for each license system in the 1982 Act.

The agreements allow permits to be issued by law enforcement agencies to licence and manage taxi and private rental cars, driver and reservation agencies to make sure they deliver secure service to the population. The approval agencies are best placed to take into consideration regional conditions. As a result of this consultative process, the most recent Air Weapons and licensing (Scotland) Act 2015[4] (the '2015 Act') was published.

At the time of the 2015 Act's adoption by Parliament, concern was expressed about the implications of advanced technologies such as smart-phone applications for the taxi and private rental license system, and the Cabinet Secretary for Justice undertook to do further work to resolve these problems. The Law Commission published a 2014 summary on taxi and private rental in England and Wales (see summary[5] and report[6]).

Provides a good overview of topical topics and a useful overview of the license positions in the four countries. It shows that there are misgivings about the effects of advanced technologies on taxi and private rental vehicle service not only in Scotland but also in the United Kingdom.

State-of-the-art technologies, such as the introduction of mobile applications that allow you to rent a taxi or private rental vehicle directly from your cell phones, have already had a huge influence on the way taxi cabs and private rental vehicles work. Clearly, there are advantages that can be gained by taxi and private rental businesses and private users through the use of advanced technologies such as the use of applications.

However, in order to take advantage of these advantages, we need to create an up-to-date license system that mirrors the smartphone application technologies. Consideration is not being given to fundamentally revising the authorisation system for taxi and private rental vehicles. Receiving reservations - checking the rules premises taxi and private rental vehicles maximal rates Other concern.

In 2009, the Regulation was adopted to enhance the monitoring and supervision of bureaux that make reservations for taxi and/or private rental vehicles. It was decided at that stage to restrict licences to physically located areas in order to remove doubts arising from the implementation of the scheme when a license for an accounting agent is not linked to a particular area of the LAs.

In addition, it was agreed to restrict the authorisation to those making reservations for four or more cars in order to alleviate the burden on undertakings. The proposal is to amend or repeal the present derogation from the authorisation scheme of the accounting office where the number of cars for which reservations are made is three or less.

Opinions have been voiced that the 2009 order should now be upgraded and revised to reflect the advanced technologies currently used for reservations. However, the 2009 Regulation on the use of physically located facilities when reserving licences for the licence scheme, which requires the emphasis to be placed on facilities such as reservation bureaux, has created problems when reservations can be made without an office, as may be the case with smartphone applications and on-line reservations.

However, we believe that it is still necessary for the general public and regulatory authorities to be able to call a company for the purpose of regulatory and enforcing legislation locally. Shall the present accounting office licence system be upgraded and the definitions of the activities covered by the licence changed? How should the accounting office's licence system be changed?

How would this affect licence authorities, commerce and the general population? Is there a need to change the present derogation from the authorisation scheme for accounting firms with three or less significant rolling stock? How would this affect licence authorities, commerce and the general population? Lokale presence: Mandatory authorisation in the 2009 Regulation will be capitalised in relation to accommodation engaged in the task of receiving bookings from persons in government for the hire of an equivalent means of transport.

However, an alternate to licencing the operation of reservations without the obligation to do so from a physically premised was refused due to concern about enforcing the licence system. If, for example, the licenced work was only the taking of a reservation, it can be hard to manage someone who accepts reservations by cellular, who can switch between different license authorities as well.

The question may arise not only of which approval agency the individual needs an approval from, but also how the approval requirement can be enforceable by the approval agency or Police Scotland. When a company makes reservations, where should it be recorded? Should it, for example, be recorded in every church in which it makes reservations?

Which kind of information or support should a company that makes reservations need and to whom? Have you any other doubts as to where the inclusion of reservations should be licenced? The approval bodies shall fix the tariffs for taxi and private hire cars for their territory in accordance with Sections 17 and 18 of the 1982 Act.

This is a criminal offense for a taxi or a private rental automobile with a taxi meter, which goes beyond these tariffs, according to § 21 paragraph 5. However, this applies only if the taxi is equipped with a meter, and although cabs generally have a meter, it is not always customary for locals to ask private rental vehicles to have a meter.

Concern has been raised that without meters in place, operator without meters could now raise rates if offer and request do not match, so-called ' Surprise pricing', resulting in far higher ticket rates than the normal measured one. Different rates may already be agreed by the national regulatory authority to take into consideration period such as midnight operations or the new year.

As an alternative, the approval bodies worried about this problem could set a precondition that a taxi meter must be fitted in all appropriate rolling stock. Is it appropriate that taxi and private rental car drivers need ameter? Instead, should the request for a taxi meter for taxi and private rental car be leave to the individual municipalities' judgement?

There would be consequences, e.g. extra cost, if all cabs and private rental cars were obliged to set up and run ameter. Do you know of any particular difficulties in billing fare in your area? Do you have experience or can you suggest good practices to the regulatory body regarding tariffs?

It will be interesting to see any other problems or worries that might have to do with the effects of advanced technologies and intelligent applications on taxi and private car rental.