Operator record keeping: what you must record for every booking

Your booking records are the first thing a licensing officer or the police ask for after a complaint or an incident. This guide sets out the record keeping requirements for a private hire operator: what the law says, the fields the Statutory Standards and three councils ask for, how long to keep booking records, and how to keep them in a book or on a computer.

What does the law say about operator records?

Section 56 of the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976 makes record keeping part of being an operator in England and Wales outside London. Under section 56(2) you keep a record in the form your council sets in its licence conditions, and you enter the particulars of every booking before the journey starts. That includes bookings you take at another operator's request.

The rest of section 56 adds three duties:

• Show the records. You produce them when an authorised council officer or a police constable asks (section 56(2)).
• Record your vehicles. You keep the particulars of every private hire vehicle you operate, as your conditions prescribe (section 56(3)).
• Show your licence. You produce your operator licence on request (section 56(4)).

Breaking any of them without reasonable excuse is an offence (section 56(5)).

Councils then fill in the detail. The Department for Transport's Statutory Taxi and Private Hire Vehicle Standards, issued under section 177 of the Policing and Crime Act 2017, are policies that licensing authorities must have regard to. Section 8 sets out what they expect operators to record.

What must you record for every booking?

At least the nine details in the Statutory Standards, plus whatever your council's conditions add. The Standards list the passenger's name, the time of the request, the pickup point, the destination, the driver's name and licence number, the vehicle registration, and the names of whoever took the booking and whoever dispatched the car.

Councils word it differently, and some ask for more. Here's how three sets of conditions compare with the Standards:

Liverpool covers drivers and vehicles in a separate register instead of in the booking list. Check your own council's conditions for its exact list.

Some conditions get specific. Birmingham says the destination must be at least the street and the postal area, such as Stratford Road, Hall Green, and that the postal area alone isn't enough. It also says you must not accept or record a booking passed to you by a driver.

How long do you have to keep booking records?

At least six months as the Statutory Standards suggest, and 12 months under the conditions of Birmingham, Bristol and Liverpool. Birmingham wants them kept at your licensed premises for at least 12 months. Bristol and Liverpool count the 12 months from the date of the last entry.

Keep them for your council's period, then don't hold them longer than you need. Booking records are personal data, and the ICO says you must not keep personal data for longer than you need it, and should have a policy setting standard retention periods. The Statutory Standards make the same point: operators have a duty under data protection law to protect the information they record.

Other records have their own clocks. Bristol keeps evidence of the fit and proper checks on your booking and dispatch staff at the premises for three years from the date of the checks, and Liverpool keeps its driver and vehicle register for at least six months.

What other records does an operator keep?

Bookings are only one register. These are the others that come up in the conditions checked here:

1. A driver and vehicle register. Bristol wants each driver's name, date of birth, home address, licence and badge numbers, licence expiry, call sign and the dates they started and stopped working for you, with copies of their licence, badge, photo ID, the vehicle licence, MOT, test certificate and insurance.
2. Monthly lists to the council. Birmingham wants an updated driver and vehicle list on the first of every month, and Liverpool on the first Monday of each month.
3. A staff register. The Statutory Standards ask for a register of everyone who takes bookings or dispatches cars, kept as a living document for as long as booking records, with a record that you've seen each person's basic DBS check.
4. A complaints register. Liverpool asks for the complainant, the complaint, what was done and by whom, the outcome and the date it was reported to the council. Birmingham keeps complaint records for 12 months.
5. Insurance and lost property. Liverpool wants live records of each car's insurance expiry date, and a record of lost property handed in by drivers.

The staff checks behind the register are in DBS checks for taxi operators, and the wider safeguarding duties in the statutory taxi and private hire vehicle standards.

Can you keep booking records on a computer?

Yes, at every council checked here, as long as an officer can see and print them when asked. Birmingham accepts either a hard back book with consecutive page numbers or a proprietary computerised booking and dispatch system that can print any record on request. You must tell its licensing office in writing before you change your computer system.

Bristol accepts a computerised system if records can be printed on demand and are properly backed up. A paper register there must be a bound book with legible entries and no blank lines or pages. Liverpool wants records in English, permanent and legible, with any change made as an addition to the original entry, and staff who can use whatever system you keep.

Timing matters as much as format. Bristol's conditions say the register must be filled in at the time, before the journey starts, and that copying entries up later from dockets breaks the conditions.

Software makes the timing easier, because the record is written as the booking is taken. Dispatch AI is booking and dispatch software for taxi and private hire firms: it books the jobs at your prices and sends them to your drivers on your own app. Whichever system you choose, print a test booking and tick it off against your council's list before you rely on it. More in moving from paper to a booking system and who owns your taxi booking data.

What happens if your records are wrong or missing?

You risk prosecution and your licence. Failing to keep the section 56 records without reasonable excuse is an offence, and Bristol warns that breaking its record conditions can lead to enforcement action, including suspension or revocation of the operator licence. Liverpool's conditions say a breach can lead to suspension, revocation or prosecution.

Losing records has its own rule in Liverpool: report the loss to the council in writing within 24 hours, and to the police straight away if you suspect theft. Back up computer records, as Bristol requires, so a dead laptop isn't a lost register.

How do you record a sub-contracted booking?

Record it in full, because the job stays yours. Section 56(1) treats the contract as made with the operator who accepted the booking, and section 55A lets you pass it to another licensed operator. Liverpool requires a full documented record of every sub-contracted booking, including the other operator's name and contact details, whether you passed the job on or received it. Birmingham and Bristol both ask for the name of the other operator. Section 56(2) also requires you to record bookings you carry out at another operator's request. More in cross-border hiring and subcontracting.

What records do London operators keep?

Transport for London sets its own list. Every London operator's booking records must include the name of whoever responded to the booking request, the name of whoever dispatched the car, the driver's private hire licence number and the vehicle registration.

London operators also keep a register of booking and dispatch staff with a basic DBS check for each person, and upload details of the drivers and vehicles they used to TfL every Monday. A TfL officer can inspect your records on request at any time. The rest of the London regime is in starting a private hire firm in London.