If you want to drive a private hire vehicle (PHV) in England and Wales you need to either:
get a PHV operator licence yourself
drive a PHV for a business which has a PHV operator licence
A PHV can only be pre-booked. Taxis can also be hired at a rank or hailed in the street.
Taxis only need a taxi vehicle licence and a taxi driver licence. But taxi drivers can do work booked by an operator.
PHV operator licences last for a maximum of 5 years.
You can be prosecuted if you receive payment for taking bookings or supply drivers for hire without an operator’s licence.
There’s a different process for operator licences in Northern Ireland and booking office licences in Scotland.