Hackney Carriage (Taxi) Licence

Taxis (Hackney Carriages) are licensed by us to make sure they are suitable and safe to travel in.

The laws covering taxis and private hire vehicles is quite different. In brief, a taxi can:

  • stand on a rank
  • be flagged down in the street
  • be booked through a licensed operator

A private hire vehicle can only accept pre-booked calls.

Taxis must be of a certain standard before and whilst licensed. At 12 months of age, taxis must have an MOT certificate. All vehicles under 5 years old must pass an inspection every six months. Vehicles over 5 years old are inspected every four months.

Taxis must be clean, comfortable and carry safety equipment such as a fire extinguisher, first aid kit and a spare wheel.

We publish the current Hackney Carriage maximum fares and a Public Register of licences.

Carlisle City Council sets the licence fees for licences, permits and registrations to cover administration, inspection and enforcement costs. The following table shows the cost of issuing Hackney Carriage licences

Hackney Carriages Charges (£)
Issue a new Hackney Carriage licence 212.00
Renew a Hackney Carriage licence 180.00
Issue a new Hackney Carriage licence for a wheelchair accessible vehicle 173.00
Renew a Hackney Carriage licence for a wheelchair accessible vehicle 140.00
Test Fee* 43.00
Re-test Fee* 35.00
Certificate of Compliance 8.00
Plate Deposit 25.00
Door Sign (Each) 10.00
Transfer of Licence 20.00
Vehicle Change 20.00
Duplicate Items 10.00
New Licence Plate 12.00
* Subject to increases in test fees from Community Services being passed on.

Downloadable Documents

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Microsoft Word formatApplication form for a Hackney Carriage licence in Word format100 Kb14 secs @ 56k, 0 secs @ 2mb
Adobe PDF format - download the viewerHackney Carriage maximum fares in PDF format100 Kb14 secs @ 56k, 0 secs @ 2mb

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Contact us

 01228 817000

Carlisle City Council
Civic Centre, Carlisle, Cumbria,
CA3 8QG