Vehicle requirements
Vehicle policy amendments effective from February 2026
The licensing of any vehicle is subject to its suitability for use as either a private hire or hackney carriage vehicle, as well as passing the certificate of compliance vehicle test at one of Slough Borough Council's approved testing sites.
- All private hire and hackney carriage vehicles being licensed for the first time, must be less than 5 years old, meet the Euro 6 standard on the date the vehicle licence application is submitted. The date of registration detailed in the vehicle registration document (V5) will be used to determine the age of the vehicle. For imported vehicles, 1 January will be used with the year of manufacture to determine the age.
- Currently licensed vehicles can remain licensed until the vehicle reaches 12 years of age.
- The vehicle must be Euro 6 compliant.
Wheelchair Accessible Vehicles (WAV’s) & specialist vehicles
WAV’s and specialist vehicles must be:
- less than 5 years old at the first time of licensing
- Euro 6 compliant
- WAV’s and specialist vehicles can remain licensed until 17 years of age - This applies to both private hire and hackney carriage licensed vehicles.
Please note, vehicles cannot be licenced by this authority if they are licenced by another authority, such as the Transport for London.
Licensing limousines
Please contact the licensing team for advice on licensing limousines or novelty type vehicles.
Policy & Conditions
Additional information
Explanatory Note 1: The date of registration detailed in the vehicle registration document (V5) will be used to determine the age of the vehicle. For imported vehicles, the year of manufacture (1 January) will be used to determine the age.