Renewing a Glasgow taxi badge or private hire (PHV) licence: it's two renewals, not one
In Glasgow the driver's licence, the one that comes with your badge, and the car's licence are renewed separately, each with its own form, fee and paperwork. This page goes by the council's guidance for both, its fee table and its vehicle age policy, not by what other drivers say the process is.
PHV and taxi badge renewal checklist
The checklist and fees below come from the Glasgow City Council pages listed at the bottom, as they stood on 3 October 2026. The detail behind each item is further down.
| Licence | Three-year renewal fee | Earliest you can apply | Latest |
|---|---|---|---|
| Private hire driver's licence (your badge) | £208 | Six months before expiry | No later than the expiry date |
| Private hire car licence (the car) | £517 | Six months before expiry | Should be lodged no later than one month before expiry |
Fees: Fees and Charges from April 2026, Glasgow City Council. Timing: driver guidance (last modified 20 May 2026) and car guidance (last modified 10 June 2026). All read on 3 October 2026. A re-check on 1 November 2026 couldn't open glasgow.gov.uk, so look at the current table before you pay.
For the driver's licence, have ready:
- A passport-style photo taken within the last month, as a small jpg
- Your photocard licence, front and back, showing your current home address
- Your DVLA licence summary, dated no more than 21 days before you lodge
- Your nine-character HMRC tax check code
- Original proof of your right to live and work in the UK
- Your SCQF Level 5 taxi and private hire driver certificate
For the car licence, have ready:
- A certificate of insurance covering private hire use
- Registration and insurance documents in the applicant's name
- A pass at the council's inspection centre, needed before any licence is granted
- Finance agreement details, if you're relying on the carve-out from the ten-year age rule
Taxi drivers: the driver guidance covers taxi and private hire driver's licences together, but the figures above are the private hire ones. Check the fee table for the taxi badge fee.
Two licences, two renewals
The council licenses the person and the vehicle separately. Your driver's licence comes with your badge. The private hire car licence belongs to the car, and it has its own plates and its own inspections. Each one is renewed through its own online application, each runs for three years, and the two pages of guidance don't say quite the same thing.
The fee table is headed "Fees and Charges from April 2026". For a three-year renewal it lists £208 for the driver's licence and £517 for the car licence. Both are paid by bank transfer (BACS) quoting your licence reference, and both can only be applied for online. Check the current table before you pay.
The deadline: the two pages word it differently
The driver guidance (last modified 20 May 2026) says the renewal must be lodged no later than the expiry date of your current licence, and that you can't submit it more than six months early.
The car guidance (last modified 10 June 2026) also says no more than six months early, but adds that it should be lodged no later than one month before the current licence expires.
Both pages agree on the part that matters most: if the renewal is lodged before the licence expires, you can keep operating while it's considered. Both also say that if you forget, or can't renew for some unforeseen reason, you should contact the Licensing Section as soon as you know the licence has expired.
What "lodged" means for the car licence
The car guidance says the application won't be formally lodged until the payment has been received, and that fees are non-refundable. So the date that counts isn't the day you click submit, it's the day the payment lands. This is a suggestion, not the council's wording: treat one month before expiry as the line for both licences, because the driver page's last-day allowance leaves no room for anything to go wrong.
Driver licence renewal: what the council asks for
On the application form you choose Private Hire Car Driver's Licence, then "Renewal - 3 Years". The guidance lists what has to go with it:
- A passport-style photo taken within the last month, head and shoulders on a white background, as a small jpg.
- Your photocard licence, front and back, showing your current home address, plus your DVLA licence summary (two pages, as a pdf) dated no more than 21 days before you lodge. The council points to the DVLA's View or share your driving licence information service for that.
- An HMRC tax check code (nine characters). The guidance says renewals will not be accepted without it, and that the code is valid for 120 days.
- Proof of your right to live and work in the UK, as original documents of the types the Home Office prescribes. The council says this applies to renewals as well as new applications, and that biometric cards and permits are not accepted.
- The SCQF Level 5 taxi and private hire driver certificate. If your licence expires on or after 1 January 2022, you must have completed the training for a renewal to be accepted.
What you don't need: for renewals, the page says there is no requirement to produce a criminal record check.
On medicals: being medically fit to drive to Group 2 standard is one of the minimum requirements, but a medical certificate isn't in the list of things to upload. The council says that if it has a concern about your fitness to drive it will normally ask you to have a medical examination, and that it pays for that one. A licence can also be granted with conditions, such as an annual medical.
The tax code lasts 120 days, the DVLA summary 21 days and the photo a month, so the shortest-lived items are the ones to get last. That ordering is a suggestion, not something the council says.
Car licence renewal: the paperwork and the rules the car has to meet
With the application you need a certificate of insurance covering private hire use. The registration and insurance documents have to be in the name of the applicant, and the page has separate wording for companies, partnerships and a named day-to-day manager.
The car also has to pass an inspection before any licence is granted, at the council's Taxi and Private Hire Inspection Centre on Polmadie Road. After that, private hire cars currently have two inspections a year, six months apart, an annual one and an intermediate one. The council sends a letter or email when each is due.
Every licensed car also had to meet an emissions standard by 1 June 2023, Euro 4 for petrol and Euro 6 for diesel. That's covered in the Glasgow LEZ and private hire article.
The age rule is the one that decides renewals for older cars
Under the council's vehicle age policy (approved 20 September 2023), a private hire car must be taken out of service and replaced when it is ten years old from its first registration date, as shown on the V5. There is one carve-out: a car that was licensed on 20 September 2023 and is under a finance agreement made before that date can continue until the agreement ends. The agreement has to be with a recognised lender such as a bank, building society or HP company, it counts for a maximum of four years, and it must be shown to the council at the time you lodge the renewal.
After you apply
A 28-day consultation period starts once the application is lodged. Police Scotland is asked for its view, and any person can object to a renewal at this stage. The council has up to nine months to decide. The driver guidance says it usually takes three to four months, and four to six if the application has to go to the Licensing and Regulatory Committee because of an objection. If you lodged before expiry, you carry on working in the meantime.
If it's granted, you get a letter with the licence and badge and any conditions. The car's plates are collected from the council, and you'll need ID. The licence holder or someone named on the application can collect them. If it's refused, you can ask for written reasons within 28 days of the decision, and an appeal goes to the Sheriff Court in Glasgow.
Things the pages don't tell you
- Whether your driver licence and your car licence expire on the same date. They don't say, so check both of yours.
- How long a bank transfer takes to count as received. The car page makes that date the one that matters, but gives no timing.
- The tax check section of the driver page is written mostly around taxi licences, but its renewal line says all renewal applications need the nine-character code. It makes sense to get one regardless of which licence you hold.
- The car page's overprovision cap of 3,450 licences is described in terms of grant applications, so it's about new licences rather than renewals.
Licensed elsewhere? See the guides for Renfrewshire, Edinburgh and Dundee, or fees compared across councils. Checking your cover at the same time? There's a guide to private hire insurance.
Sources
- Guidance for Taxi Driver and Private Hire Car Driver's Licence — Glasgow City Council (last modified 20 May 2026)
- Guidance for Private Hire Car Licence — Glasgow City Council (last modified 10 June 2026)
- Fees and Charges — Glasgow City Council (last modified 1 July 2026)
- Private Hire Car 10 Year Policy — Glasgow City Council (last modified 22 January 2026)
- Application Form for Grant or Renewal of Taxi or Private Hire Car Licence — Glasgow City Council