{
  "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/private-hire-vehicles-london-act-1998/section-12",
  "json_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/private-hire-vehicles-london-act-1998/section-12.json",
  "legislation": "ukpga/1998/34",
  "legislation_title": "Private Hire Vehicles (London) Act 1998",
  "legislation_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/private-hire-vehicles-london-act-1998",
  "path": "section/12",
  "kind": "section",
  "number": "12",
  "heading": "Requirement for private hire vehicle driver’s licence.",
  "text": "(1) No vehicle shall be used as a private hire vehicle on a road in London unless the driver holds a private hire vehicle driver’s licence.\n(2) The driver and operator of a vehicle used in contravention of this section are each guilty of an offence.\n(3) The owner of a vehicle who permits it to be used in contravention of this section is guilty of an offence.\n(4) It is a defence in proceedings against the operator of a vehicle for an offence under subsection (2) for the operator to show that he exercised all due diligence to prevent the vehicle being used in contravention of this section.\n(5) A person guilty of an offence under this section is liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 4 on the standard scale.\n(6) In this section “private hire vehicle driver’s licence” means—\n(a) except where paragraph (b) or (c) applies, a London PHV driver’s licence;\n(b) if the vehicle is in use for the purposes of a hiring the booking for which was accepted outside London in a controlled district in England and Wales, a licence under section 51 of the 1976 Act issued by the council for that district; and\n(c) if the vehicle is in use for a hiring the booking for which was accepted in Scotland, a licence under section 13 of the 1982 Act,\nand for the purposes of paragraph (b) or (c) it is immaterial that the booking in question is a sub-contracted booking.\n(7) This section does not apply to the use of a vehicle for the purposes of a hiring for a journey beginning outside London in an area of England and Wales which is not a controlled district.",
  "extent": null,
  "status": null,
  "version": "current",
  "annotations": [
    {
      "type": "I",
      "label": "I1",
      "text": "S. 12(1)-(6) in force at 1.6.2003 by S.I. 2003/580, arts. 1(2), 2(2)(a)"
    },
    {
      "type": "I",
      "label": "I2",
      "text": "S. 12(7) in force at 8.6.2004 by S.I. 2004/241, art. 2(2)"
    }
  ],
  "outstanding_effects": [],
  "provenance": {
    "source": "legislation.gov.uk",
    "source_url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1998/34/section/12",
    "retrieved_at": "2026-10-29T09:22:33.086643+00:00"
  },
  "licence": "Open Government Licence v3.0",
  "licence_url": "https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/",
  "attribution": "Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives."
}