We keep the Taxi and Private Hire Licensing Privacy Notice under review. It was last reviewed and updated in March 2022.
If you have any questions about this Privacy Notice contact the council’s Data Protection Officer.
View the privacy and transparency information for all of the City of York Council (CYC).
Personal data
In order to administer our services we need to collect information from you such as:
- name, contact details, national insurance number
- medical details including information about your health from your GP or specialist
- criminal record details
- immigration status and duration in and out of the UK
- right to work details
- photograph and date of birth
- past address and taxi trade history
- Driving Licence details
- reference details
- vehicle details:
- history of purchase, start and expiry date of a licence, vehicle plate number, vehicle registration number, whether vehicle is private hire or hackney carriage, whether vehicle is wheelchair accessible
- name of drivers authorised to drive a licenced vehicle
- private hire business details including staff details
- driver, vehicle and operator insurance details
- driver, wheelchair and driver training day test results
- complaints history including committee and court reports
We will only ask for personal information that is appropriate to enable us to deliver our services. In some cases, you can refuse to provide your details if you deem a request to be inappropriate. However, you should note that this might affect our ability to provide some services to you.
See further details about how we define personal data and non-personal data.
Collecting personal data
We ask that you:
- give us accurate information
- tell us as soon as possible of any changes
- tell us as soon as possible if you notice mistakes in the information we hold about you
Using personal data
We collect and use your information to
- assess your suitability and fitness to be issued with a taxi or private hire licence and to assist us in managing your licence
- contact you in relation to your licence(s)
- complete any required checks for example, medical checks, criminal record (DBS) checks and DVLA checks
Our legal basis for using personal data
A Local Authority must ensure a person is 'fit & proper' to hold a taxi or private hire licence or both. This means our legal basis for processing your information is to comply with our legal obligations and to carry out tasks in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority for example:
- Local Government (Miscellaneous) Provisions Act 1976
- Town Police Clauses Act 1847 & 1889
- Transport Act 1985, 1991
- Equality Act 2010
- Criminal Justice & Public Order Act 1994
- Immigration Act 2016
- Deregulation Act 2015
- The Air Quality (Taxis and Private Hire Vehicles Database) England Wales Regulations 2019
The above list is not exhaustive
Sharing personal data
We may share some information with other local authorities and enforcement organisations including but not limited to the police. In addition, we may share some information with:
- Internal council departments who requires access to your information for the purpose of administration, regulation and law enforcement
From time to time, we may share your information with other council departments if the law allows us to do so.
- Cabinet Office (as part of the National Fraud Initiative)
The council has a legal duty to submit information to the government as part of the National Fraud Initiative (NFI).
- HM Revenue & Customs
The council has a statutory duty under schedule 23 of the Finance Act 2011 to submit returns to the HMRC.
- National Anti-Fraud Network (NAFN)
The council shares information with NAFN as part of the national database of taxi and PHV driver licence refusals, suspensions and revocations (NR3); for more information, please read the NFAN's online Privacy Policy.
- Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA)
The council shares information with DEFRA as required by The Air Quality (Taxis and Private Hire Vehicles Database) (England and Wales) Regulations 2019. The information we are required to share with DEFRA includes Vehicle Registration Mark, the start and expiry date of the vehicle licence, whether the vehicle is a taxi or PHV, the name of the licensing authority, the licence plate number and an indication of whether it is a wheelchair accessible vehicle. Read DEFRA's Privacy Notice for more information.
- Councillors who sit on the Council’s Licensing and Regulatory Committee
Where we refer your application or licence (in the case of a review) to the Committee for determination.
- Publically available
When your application goes to Licensing and Regulatory Committee, the details of your application are made publically available so that the decisions the council makes are open and transparent. Some personal information, such as criminal conviction, is not made publically available, however Committee Members will have that information to enable them to make a decision on your licence application or licence or both.
Please note that a register is published on the City of York Council’s website and will show private hire operator details including name, business address and telephone number, start and end date of their licence, and licence number
Sharing data under Data Protection legislation
We may be required or permitted, under data protection legislation, to disclose your personal data without your explicit consent, for example if we have a legal obligation to do so, such as for:
- law enforcement
- fraud investigations
- regulation and licensing
- criminal prosecutions
- court proceedings
Retaining personal data
We will keep your personal data for as long as is necessary, unless superseded by statutory regulation, and we will dispose of it securely when it is no longer needed.
- information submitted as part of an application - 6 years after the date in which the application is refused
- information held in respect of a licence - 6 years after the date from which the licence ceases to be held
- information received as part of an enforcement investigation – for a minimum of 6 years and then for only so long as may be necessary to inform a decision to protect the public
- information held on the NR3 database will be held for a period of 25 years
At the end of the retention period, we may pass any relevant information to the City Archives where it is required or appropriate to do so.
Further processing of personal data
If we wish to use your personal data for a new purpose, not covered by this Privacy Notice, then we'll provide you with a new notice.
The new notice will:
- explain this new use before we start the processing
- set out the relevant purposes and processing conditions
Where and whenever necessary, we'll seek your consent to the new processing, if we start to use your personal data for a purpose not mentioned in this Privacy Notice.
Your rights relating to personal data
To find out about your rights under data protection law, you can read the Information Commissioners Office (ICO).
When we collect your personal data we'll tell you how we are going to use it. Where we process your personal data, you have a number of rights under data protection law.
See further details of your rights relating to personal data.
If you have any questions about this privacy notice, want to exercise your rights, or if you have a complaint about how your information has been used, please email: information.governance@york.gov.uk or telephone: 01904 554145 or write to:
Data Protection Officer
Data Protection Officer
City of York Council
West Offices
Station Rise
York
YO1 6GA