Enhanced DBS Checks for Public Carriage Office (PCO) Drivers – Taxi Driver, Uber, Minicab, and Chauffeur
If you intend to work as a driver, where you are transporting members of the public, in a taxi, uber, minicab, or even a chauffeur of a vehicle/limousine, it is necessary for you to have a PCO Licence. In order to gain a PCO License, you require an Enhanced DBS Check.
Since 2012 it has been law for all private hire drivers to have an Enhanced DBS Check, this is not only if you are transporting children or vulnerable adults, but also necessary for any PCO driver transporting any passengers.
An Enhanced DBS Check will report on past criminal behaviour, and will check for:
- Unspent convictions
- Spent convictions.
- Cautions
- Warnings
- Reprimands
- Local police information
When you are a PCO driver, by having an Enhanced DBS check, it would let hiring organisations know that you have a good character and are not a danger or risk to members of the public who you would be transporting.
How to Request an Enhanced DBS Check for a PCO
Typically, it is an employer or recruitment agency who would apply for an Enhanced DBS Check on behalf of a prospective employee. Another starting option as an individual who is requesting a PCO licence is to ask the local council to fill out the DBS application form for a taxi driver. But you will still need to have this verified by your employer.
You can complete an Enhanced DBS application form online, which is the most accurate and efficient way to submit your application, which helps to deal with the issue of postal delays, and the online system prompts for missing fields of information that could slow down an application.
As a PCO driver you may need to renew an Enhanced DBS Check every three years. Enhanced DBS checks submitted online, should give you the results after a few days, but can take longer. The best way to ensure there are no delays are to triple-check your form before sending it off, to ensure that you are not missing any of the required information, because this could delay the local police in being able to find information for you; this is especially important if you have had many different addresses in the past that need to be searched, or many name changes.
Is it Possible to Gain a PCO Licence if you have a past Criminal Record?
A person with a previous criminal record or warning may be granted a PCO licence, but that would depend entirely on what the offence was, and how long ago it was committed, and whether it is an offence that is relevant to driving members of the public safely. If a person applied for a PCO licence their case would be considered based upon the following:
- What offence they committed.
- Why they committed the offence.
- The individual’s circumstances at the time of the crime.
- Whether they have behaved in an exemplary manner ever since committing the crime.
- Whether they have any other convictions.
- What sentence they were given.
- Their history of being a PCO driver.
- Other feedback about their character.
If the offence that was committed was violent or sexual, regardless of when this took place, it is likely that the application for a PCO licence would be rejected.
In order to gain a PCO Licence, as well as the Enhanced DBS Check, a person needs to be over the age of 21 years old, and to have held a valid UK driving licence for at least three years.
