Private hire vehicle licences

You'll need a licence for a vehicle to be used for private hire. We provide licences when we're satisfied that vehicles are safe and suitable for this purpose, as set out in the national legislation and criteria that you can read on GOV.UK.

COVID-19 (coronavirus) service update

There's currently disruption to our licensing services due to COVID-19 (coronavirus).

Find out more about disruptions to licensing services.

How to apply

You'll need to arrange a vehicle test at one of our approved MOT testing facilities (see below).

When your vehicle has been tested and passed you should bring the below documents to the licensing duty office in Westgate Plaza, 1 West Street, Barnsley S70 2DR:

  • MOT certificate
  • a valid certificate of insurance
  • the vehicle V5 logbook

Our opening hours are 1pm to 5pm Monday to Thursday and 1pm to 4.30pm on Friday. You'll need to contact us to make an appointment if you want to speak to an officer.

List of our approved garages

Our approved garages with MOT testing facilities are below.

Garage Address Phone number
Barnsley Commercial Sales Ltd 137 Wakefield Road, Barnsley, S71 1ND (01226) 391400
Carlton MOT Centre Unit 5, Wharncliffe Industrial Estate, Carlton Road, Barnsley, S71 3HX (01226) 724700
Central Garage Brocklehurst Avenue, Kendray, Barnsley, S70 3AL (01226) 281161
DM Auto Unit C1 Grove Park, Springvale Road, Grimethorpe, Barnsley, S72 7BF (01226) 710245
Dootson Motors Ltd Barnsley Road, Cudworth, Barnsley, S72 8UU (01226) 711152
Hunningley MOT Centre Hunningley Lane, Barnsley, S70 3DT (01226) 296633
G-Tech MOT Centre Langdale Road, Barnsley, S71 1AQ (01226) 733427
Perrys Group Ltd Claycliffe Road, Barugh Green, S75 1LR (01226) 776100
Ron Daley Motorcycles Ltd Doncaster Road, Barnsley, S70 1TL (01226) 203377
Roys Autos 55a Blacker Road, Mapplewell, Barnsley, S75 6GS (01226) 387141
Smithies Lane Depot Smithies Lane, Barnsley, S71 1NL (01226) 774193
Trend Motor Services Ltd Rimmington Road, Wombwell, Barnsley, S73 8DQ (01226) 340216
Wyatt Auto Repairs Unit 18/19 Mitchells Industrial Estate, Wombwell, Barnsley, S73 8HR (01226) 752830

Charges

The price of the vehicle licence is £164.  

The vehicle test fee is not included in this; charges may vary and are set at the discretion of the test centres.

If you change your vehicle

We can't give you a refund on your licence if you change your vehicle and you can't transfer your private hire plate to another vehicle.

Daily check sheets

As part of the vehicle licence conditions the driver of a licensed vehicle must make sure it has a daily safety check.

As a minimum this must be a visual check of all lights, oil, water, tyres, mirrors and seat belts. The driver must make a written record of each safety check and give details of any faults and remedial action they've taken. They must sign the record and it must be kept in the vehicle for a minimum of 30 days. After this time the vehicle licence holder must keep the record for six months.

The driver of the vehicle must be able to show the recorded daily checks kept in the vehicle to us if we asked to see them. The licence holder must be able to show us all of the recorded checks they have for the vehicle for the past six months.

You can download and print your own copies of our daily check sheet. You can also buy these from us in a booklet; contact us if you'd like to do this.

Vehicle licence conditions

The licence conditions for private hire and hackney carriage vehicles can be viewed below.