Before being licensed as either a Hackney Carriage or Private Hire Driver, you will have to take and pass the relevant knowledge test. The tests are held on the second Monday of every month (unless this falls on a bank holiday) in the Council Chamber at the council offices. The tests start at either 10 am or 1.30 pm.
You have 1 hour and 30 minutes to complete the Private Hire Knowledge Test, and 2 hours and 30 minutes to complete the Hackney Carriage Knowledge Test.
You are strongly advised to spend time learning for the test. We do not limit the number of times you take the test, but you will have to pay the full test fee for each test.
We do not supply a list of questions for you to learn off by heart. Each test is randomly generated from a bank of questions.
Before taking the test, you must have made an application for the relevant licence, including having paid the application fee.
The test has to be booked and paid for in advance.
If the examiner cannot read an answer it will not receive any mark.
The pass mark for the Private Hire Driver Knowledge Test is 80%
The pass mark for the Hackney Carriage Driver Knowledge Test is 90%
You will be tested on the whole of Guildford Borough Council area, not just Guildford itself, so make sure you know what area the borough covers.
Both tests cover the following topics. Where links for each topic are provided they are to assist applicants by supplying a starting point. They do not necessarily cover all the material. This is done to provide examples of the type of questions you may be asked in the test. It is possible that, in some instances, they will name premises not in Guildford Borough. If you have the post code, then you can use the directgov website (this page opens in a new window) to confirm which local authority the premises is in.
- Carriage of disabled persons
The Disabled Persons Transport Advisory Committee (this page opens in a new window)
The Department for Transport (this page opens in a new window)
- Highway Code (this page opens in a new window)
- The law, byelaws and licence conditions
Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976 (this page opens in a new window)
Transport Act 1985 (this page opens in a new window)
Town Police Clauses Act 1847 (this page opens in a new window) - Hackney Carriage Drivers only
Current byelaws [PDF] (56k)
Driver conditions [PDF] (26k)
- Places of worship
Guildford Churches (this page opens in a new window)
A church near you (this page opens in a new window)
Guildford Community Website (this page opens in a new window)
- Conference centres
- Hotels, bed & breakfasts, and guest houses
- Places of interest
- Pubs, clubs and licensed premises (this page opens in a new window)
- Railway stations
- Restaurants, cafes and take-away premises
Scores on the Doors (this page opens in a new window)
- Doctors’ surgeries and health centres
NHS services near you (this page opens in a new window)
- Schools (this page opens in a new window)
- Basic maths and writing receipts
The Hackney Carriage Driver’s test also includes questions on:
- Routes to villages
- Routes within the borough
- Golf clubs
Other useful websites include:
Licensing Team
Guildford Borough Council
Millmead House
Millmead
Guildford
Surrey
GU2 4BB
Tel: 01483 444371
Fax: 01483 444546
Email: licensing@guildford.gov.uk