Before a Hackney Carriage or Private Hire
Driver Licence is granted to an applicant, he/she is required to
pass the Council's Knowledge test, checking geographical knowledge
of the Borough and knowledge of the byelaws/conditions that govern
Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Drivers.
Test dates are regularly set throughout the
year. The test consists of three different papers and
lasts for two and a half hours.
Applicants may take the test up to three times
within 12 months and will not have to retake any of the three
papers they have already passed in previous tests. If an
applicant fails all three attempts within a year they must wait a
period of three months following the final test before re-applying
(previous pass marks will not be carried forward when making a
renewed application).
Section A
Tests the applicant's knowledge of locations of
named buildings. The paper consists of questions covering the
whole area of the Borough, Hemel Hempstead, Berkhamsted, Tring,
Long Marston and Other Areas.
Other areas include Great Gaddesden, Kings
Langley, Bovingdon, Chipperfield, Felden, Flamstead, Aldbury,
Potten End, Friars Wash, Frithsden, Wigginton, Little Gaddesden and
Markyate.
Upon application, applicants will be issued a
list of the questions used for the test. There are 100
questions for Hemel Hempstead section A, applicants will be asked
25 of these questions in the test. There are 36 Berkhamsted
questions listed, applicants will be asked 12 in the test.
There are 12 questions each for Tring and other areas listed,
applicants will be asked three each of these in the test.
Hackney Driver applicants must answer a minimum
of 33 questions correctly out of the total 43 to pass section
A.
Private Hire applicants must answer 15
correctly from the Hemel Hempstead questions and eight from
the Berkhamsted, Tring and Other Areas questions to pass section
A.
There is one hour to answer Section A and
Section C before having a short comfort break and continuing on to
Section B.
Example:
Greenway First School
Answer:
Crossways Berkhamsted
Buildings likely to appear in this paper are
schools, pubs, restaurants, sports facilities, hotels, shops,
residential homes, churches, and anywhere of public interest.
Section B
The questions in this paper give the name
of two different roads. Applicants will be expected to
describe the shortest, most direct route between these two
places, naming all the streets and roads on the route they are
taking.
Applicants will be asked the same amount of
questions per area as in Section A, and will have to answer the
same number of questions correctly to pass.
Applicants will have one and a half hours to
complete section B.
Example:
Westron Gardens to Okeford Drive:
Route is: Mortimer Hill, Brook Street, High
Street, Christchurch Road.
Section C
Hackney applicants will be issued with a copy
of the Council's Hackney Carriage Byelaws and the Taxi Vehicle
Licence Conditions.
Private Hire applicants will be issued with a
copy of the Council's Private Hire Driver Conditions and Private
Hire Vehicle Conditions.
Applicants will be expected to correctly answer
15 out of the 20 questions about the Byelaws or Conditions in
Section C. They will have one hour to answer sections A
and C.
To order an application pack, including the
knowledge test questions, please call one of the numbers below.
Address: Licensing Division Civic Centre, Hemel
Hempstead, Herts HP1 1HH.
Telephone 01442 228225/228122
Fax:01442 228477
Contact Dede Bande or Tina Parr
Licensing@dacorum.gov.uk