Course and assessment fees

Driver Awareness Training & Knowledge Test – £63

Driving Standards Assessment – £90 

What does the course involve?

The Taxi Driver Awareness and Knowledge Course will provide you with the following relevant information required to carry out your role.

The course will cover:

• Legislation, Licensing and Driver Administration.
• Looking after you, your vehicle and your customers.
• Safeguarding and Child Sexual Exploitation Responsibilities.
• Disability and Equality Awareness.

What to bring to the course

• Your driving licence.
• If you have the old style (non-photocard) licence, then you must also bring a valid passport.
• Your booking confirmation email.

Certification

Upon successful attempts at The Driving Standards Assessment & The Knowledge Test, you will receive your separate pass certificates by email, within 24 hours.

Additional support requirements

As part of our Equal Opportunities Policy, we are committed to ensuring that there is no discrimination in the provision of our services. A reasonable adjustment can be given to someone who has a disability, medical condition or learning need that may affect them during the course, test or assessment. However, due to the nature of some of our services, a candidate must have the literacy skills to be able to read and understand any course, test or assessment material and any additional resources related to it.

What does the assessment involve?

Driving Standards assessment Criteria

The Telford & Wrekin Driving Standards Assessment will take approx. 40 minutes.

The assessment will include:

• A stop at the side of the road as if a passenger were entering or exiting the vehicle.
• Carrying out a manoeuvre, where you will be asked to turn the vehicle around to face in the opposite direction.
• Navigation – during the assessment drive, you will be asked to drive to a destination determined by the assessor. (You are permitted to use a SAT NAV device, which must be prepared before moving off). Please note: One driving fault will be recorded, for each incorrect turn taken during the navigation section of the assessment. For refence, It is illegal to use (touch) a hand-held phone or similar device while driving, the rules are the same if you are stopped at traffic lights or queuing in traffic.
• Questions about traffic signs (6 questions).
• Questions from the Highway Code (3 questions).
• Questions related to Cabology (2 questions).
• Questions related to Vehicle Safety Checks (2 questions).
• You may also be asked to carry out an emergency stop.

 

You will pass The Driving Standards Assessment if you make 6 or less faults, unless you accumulate a number of faults in one area (four or more faults for the same issue is considered a serious fault). If any serious or dangerous faults are recorded this will result in a fail. Please note faults will also be recorded for incorrect answers given when answering Vehicle Safety Check, Traffic Sign, Cabology and Highway Code questions as well as driving faults committed on the practical element of the assessment.

What you must bring

• Your driving licence.
• If you have the old style (non-photocard) licence, then you must also bring a valid passport.
• A Suitable Vehicle.

 

Vehicle requirements

Your vehicle should be either a vehicle owned by you, or a vehicle you are using with permission of the owner (e.g. a hire vehicle).

The vehicle must be fully roadworthy and must not be displaying any warning lights.

Either a manual or an automatic vehicle is acceptable.

Green Penny reserves the right to check the tax and MOT status of your vehicle where they have reasonable concern that your vehicle is not roadworthy. If your vehicle is found without tax or a current MOT the assessment will not go ahead and you will lose your fee.

Please note you can only use a licensed vehicle if you are an existing Private Hire or Hackney Carriage driver. Please check with your licensing authority.

Your vehicle must:

• be insured for the purposes of a driving test/assessment.
• be a car with front and rear seats (vans are not acceptable).
• not be displaying trade plates or L plates.
• be taxed.
• have a current, valid MOT (if over 3 years old).
• be roadworthy.
• be free of any tyre damage and all tread depths must be above the legal limit (you cannot use a space saver tyre on the assessment).
• have no warning lights showing.
• have all its exterior lights in full working order.
• the vehicle must be in a reasonably clean condition inside.
• the vehicle must be smoke-free – this means you cannot smoke in it just before or during the test (if the smell of smoke is present in the vehicle, the assessment may not go ahead and you may lose your fee).
• be able to reach at least 62 mph and have a mph speedometer.
• have 4 wheels and a maximum authorised mass of no more than 3,500kg.
• have a passenger seat belt and head restraint for the assessor.
• You must bring a vehicle that is suitable for the type of assessment you are taking: Standard assessment – you must bring a car with rear seats (vans or car derived vans are not acceptable, except for a minibus designed to carry up to 8 passengers and up to 3,500 kg). Enhanced and wheelchair assessments – you must bring a vehicle that is suitable for transporting a wheelchair user i.e. a vehicle that has been adapted for the loading and transportation of wheelchair user.

In addition to the above, we have a policy of not allowing any recording of the assessment (audio or visual). You can use a camera for insurance purposes, as long as it is: 

• External facing
• Doesn’t record audio inside the vehicle

If your vehicle does not meet the above requirements, your assessment will not go ahead and you will lose your assessment fee.

Before the assessment starts

• Please ensure that your clothing and footwear will not affect your ability to safely use the controls of your vehicle.
• We will ask you to read a vehicle number plate from a distance of 20 metres away. If you require the use of glasses or contact lenses to read the number plate, then you must also wear these during the driving assessment. If you fail the eyesight test, the rest of the assessment cannot go ahead and you will lose your fee. If you are taking the enhanced assessment you can still carry out the wheelchair exercise.

 

Please note some assessments are observed by our quality assurance staff for training and monitoring purposes.

 

Refunds/cancellations

If you wish to cancel your booking, you may do so providing that:

a) You give us a minimum of four clear working days’ notice.
b) Notice is given in writing by emailing taxi@greenpenny.co.uk or by calling us on 0330 111 7230.

If the above terms are met, then we will cancel your place on the course and will provide you with a full refund via your original method of payment and will confirm this via email.

If you wish to change your booking, you may do so providing that:

a) You give us a minimum of four clear working days’ notice.
b) Notice is given in writing by email taxi@greenpenny.co.uk or by calling us on 0330 1117230

If the above terms have been met, then we will change the date of your course or test and confirm this via email.

If you have already attended the full course, or part of the course, then no cancellation or change of date is possible and no refund will be due. If you fail to attend a course or test on the date you have booked, or you arrive late, no refund or date change will be available.