To become a licensed private hire driver you must first apply to the Public Carriage Office, the licensing authority for Transport for London (TfL) who will supply you with an Application Pack which you should complete and return.

To be eligible to be granted a licence you must fulfil the following requirements:

If you are successful in your application you will be issued with a temporary permit approximately 7 days after application has been made. On receipt of the temporary permit (valid for a maximum period of 3 months) you are entitled to start work as a private hire driver using a licensed private hire vehicle. However this is only temporary and does not represent a final decision on your suitability to be granted a full licence. The granting of a full licence will follow automatically once your suitability is verified.