Hire Car Booking Office Licence
West Lothian Council as licensing authority administers a licensing scheme for booking offices taking bookings for 4 or more relevant vehicles.
You should seek legal advice from a solicitor or advice centre if you are unsure as to whether you require a licence, the Team are able to provide general guidance on the scheme for licensing of booking offices but cannot assist you to complete your application form or provide legal advice on whether a licence is required.
From 2 October 2023, there will be new tax-related requirements put in place by the UK Government in connection with applications for certain types of licence across Scotland and Northern Ireland. The requirements have been in place in England and Wales since April 2022. In Scotland, this applies to the following types of licence-: If you are applying for one of the licences above for the first time, we will ask you to read HMRC guidance on what you need to do to be properly registered for tax in the future and provide confirmation that you have done so. Find out more at Confirm your responsibilities when applying for a licence (opens new window) If you are applying to renew one of the licences above you'll need to complete an online tax check with HMRC prior to submitting your application. Find out more at Complete an online tax check (opens new window) Please note that if you are a new applicant and have held the same type of licence anywhere in the UK within the 12 months preceding your application the law requires that you complete the tax check with HMRC referred to above for renewals. Applicants and licence holders should be aware that failure to comply with the above requirements prevents the Council from accepting and considering their application. About the tax check The check should take a few minutes every few years and is simply to confirm that applicants for licences are appropriately registered for tax. Applicants complete the tax check through the GOV.UK Government Gateway website, you will require a Government Gateway User ID and Password. You will only need to answer a few questions to tell HMRC how you pay any tax that may be due on income you earn from your licensed trade. If you do not already have a Government Gateway account, you must sign up to get one at the start of the process for completing the online tax check. When you've completed the tax check, you'll get a 9-character code, tax check codes are valid for 120 days. You must give this code to the Licensing Team when you make your application. We cannot proceed with your application until the tax check is completed and we have checked your code with HMRC. Please note we will not have access to information about your tax affairs. If you are applying to renew a licence and fail to provide a valid tax check code your licence will expire on whichever of the following dates is the latest:
Taxis and private hire cars and the door to door service they provide are essential for people with disabilities. They are a key mode of transport for people who are blind and partially sighted, who are unable to drive and often face barriers when using public transport.
Service providers, including transport providers, have a duty under equality legislation to make reasonable adjustments for people with disabilities. And of course, providing such support also represents good customer service.
Guide Dogs Scotland have written guidance for taxi and private hire drivers to make them feel confident when helping passengers with sight loss Guide Dogs Scotland Taxi and PHC Guidance [89KB]
A booking office licence is required in terms of the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 (Licensing of Booking Offices) Order 2009 (SSI2009/145) for the following activity: Licences can be held by individuals, partnerships, companies or formally constituted organisations. You should seek legal advice from a solicitor or advice centre if you are unsure as to whether you require a licence. Is there any exemption from the need for a licence? Yes, a licence is not required if the business never takes bookings for more than 3 vehicles. However, it is not the number of vehicles operating on a system at any one time which is relevant, it is the total number of vehicles for which bookings are ever taken. Please see the guidance notes which are attached to the application form. What is the definition of a "relevant vehicle"? In terms of Paragraph 1 of the said Order "relevant vehicle" means a vehicle in relation to which a taxi licence Taxi Vehicle Licences or private hire car licence Private Hire Car Vehicle Licences has been granted in terms of section 10 of the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 and that licence is in effect.
If you want to apply for a licence you must submit an application form along with the required documents and the appropriate fee. Application forms which have guidance notes attached to them and a list of fees are available from the downloads section of this page. You should read the guidance notes carefully before completing your application form.
There are two separate application forms, one is for persons applying for a licence as an individual and the other is to be completed by applicants who are companies, partnership or organisations.
All applications are copied to the Cab Inspector at the Taxi Examination Centre. Mandatory background checks will be carried out on all applicants by Police Scotland and applicants' details will be retained on computer. You will be contacted once vetting is complete and given a date for your vehicle to be presented to be tested at the Taxi Examination Centre.
Subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974, all unspent convictions, fixed penalties and alternatives to prosecution must be declared including all breaches of road traffic law and you can find further information on that by using this link Scottish Government Guidance on Disclosure of Convictions which takes you to guidance from the Scottish Government regarding the disclosure of convictions, including spent convictions or alternatives to prosecution.
If you have previous convictions and have doubts as to which offences are spent you may wish to seek legal advice before completing an application.
Any member of the public can make an objection or representation about a hire car booking office licence application unless the application is for a temporary licence.
A guidance note explaining how an objection or representation can be made can be viewed here Information on Responding to Licence Applications [23KB]
Some applications will involve a right to work check. In relation to all new and renewal applications made in the name of individuals the Council is required to carry out a right to work check on the applicant. See paragraph 5 of the guidance notes attached to the application form for further details.
Applications made by companies, partnerships and organisations are unaffected.
There is detailed information about right to work checks Right to Work Check Guidance [219KB]
We have nine months in which to make a decision regarding your application however the majority of applications are determined within 60 days and applications which do not attract any adverse comments or objections are granted by the Chief Solicitor under delegated powers.
All other applications require to be referred to the Licensing Committee for a decision to be made to grant or refuse your application. You will be advised if your application is being referred to the Licensing Committee. The Committee meets on a monthly basis and you will be sent notice of the date and time of the meeting at which your application is to be considered along with a copy of the report on your application.
Meetings are held in the West Lothian Civic Centre and you or your representative will be given the opportunity to explain to the committee at the meeting why you consider your application should be granted.
Applicants who require an interpreter at the Licensing Committee should consult read the following guidance note Guidance on Interpretation Service for Licensing Committee and Board Meetings [22KB]
If your application is refused by the Licensing Committee you may have a right of appeal against that decision and can request a written statement of reasons in relation to the decision from the Licensing Team, this must be done within 10 days of the date your application was refused. Appeals against decisions can be made to Livingston Sheriff Court, information regarding the Sheriff Court is available from the Scottish Courts (opens new window) website and you should consult your own legal representative should you wish further information on how to appeal.
The Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 contains a number of grounds on which applications can be refused Grounds for Refusal of Civic Licence Applications [88KB] If none of these grounds is found to exist the application must be granted. Licensing caselaw makes it clear that in making decisions on any application under Part II of the 1982 Act a committee should have adequate factual material before it to support its conclusions and any reasons given should be those related to the objects of the civic government licensing legislation.
Standard conditions that are applied to booking office licences can be found in the downloads section of this page.
A booking office licence is issued for a period of 1 year for both the grant or renewal of a licence.
If you are a current licence holder and wish to vary a condition of your licence you need to make a variation application using the form and pay an administration fee. Please note that a separate application must be made for each licence which you wish to be varied. The application form and a list of fees can be found in the downloads section of this page.
Once your application form and fee are received a copy of your application will be sent to the Council's advisors for their comments. If there are no adverse comments received from advisors the licence can be varied by the Chief Solicitor using delegated powers.
However if any adverse comments are received the application would then need to be referred to the next suitable Licensing Committee for a decision to be taken. If your application needs to go to the committee the whole process may take three to four months depending on how long it takes for the advisors to respond. If your variation application is referred to committee you will be invited to attend the meeting to explain to the committee why you consider your application should be granted.
If you are applying for a new licence or to renew an existing licence and wish to request that any of the standard conditions be varied you can request that at the time you make your application without making a separate variation application. You should include a letter with your application form explaining what condition you wish varied and the reasons for that. The procedure is the same as for variation applications and if any adverse comments are received the application would then need to be referred to the next suitable Licensing Committee for a decision to be taken on the grant or renewal of the application including your request for the conditions to be varied.
You should be aware that if your application requires to be referred to the Licensing Committee that this will delay the determination of your application.
You should notify us as soon as you can if your details change or any of the information given in your application becomes out of date due to a change in your circumstances.
If you no longer wish to hold your licence you can surrender it to the council at any time by returning your licence together with a letter stating that you wish to surrender it. If you surrender your licence it will cease to have effect.
Complaints should be made directly to the booking office, all licensed booking offices have their own complaints procedure and a copy of this should be available from them on request.
The council is only able to investigate complaints about booking offices when the complaints procedure has not been followed, we are not able to investigate if you are unsatisfied with the outcome of your complaint or the way the business is operated.
Complaints regarding unlicensed booking offices should be made to Police Scotland by calling 101.
The following lists contain details of current licence holders, these lists are updated regularly and at least every 12 weeks. For the avoidance of doubt this is the only information available to members of the public Current List of Booking Offices [97KB]
