Privacy and Personal Data

South Hams District Council are committed to protecting and respecting your privacy and will inform you of how we process your information.

Privacy Notice - Taxi and Private Hire Licensing

South Hams District Council takes your privacy seriously.

This notice sets out what we will do with your personal information and who we may share it with.

What information about you do we collect?

We collect the following information:

  • Name, address, email address, telephone number, national insurance number
  • Medical details including information about your health from your GP or specialist
  • Criminal record details
  • Immigration status and duration in and out of the UK
  • Right to work details
  • Photograph and date of birth
  • Past address and taxi trade history
  • Driving Licence details
  • Reference details
  • Vehicle details: 
    • history of purchase, start and expiry date of a licence, vehicle plate number, vehicle registration number, whether vehicle is private hire or hackney carriage, whether vehicle is wheelchair accessible
  • Name of drivers authorised to drive a licenced vehicle
  • Private hire business details including staff details
  • Driver, vehicle and operator insurance details
  • Driver, wheelchair and driver training day test results
  • Complaints history including committee and court reports
  • Personal information obtained from service users or authorities in relation to complaints about drivers or vehicles
  • Personal information, including name, address, email address and telephone number about service users in relation to raising a complaint

How do we collect information about you?

Relevant personal data will be collected:

  • Directly from you as the data subject
  • From service users when they raise complaints

How will your personal data be used?

Your personal data will be used in the following ways:

  • To assess your suitability and fitness to be issued with a taxi or private hire licence and to assist us in managing your licence
  • To contact you in relation to your licence(s)
  • To complete any required checks for example, medical checks, criminal record (DBS) checks and DVLA checks
  • To process any complaint from service users or authorities about a taxi driver or vehicle 

The Legal basis for processing your data

Your personal data is processed under the following legal bases:

  • Article 6 1(b) processing is necessary for the compliance with a legal obligation to which the controller is subject.
  • Article 6 1(e) processing is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in the controller.

A Local Authority must ensure a person is 'fit and proper' to hold a taxi or private hire licence or both.

This means our legal basis for processing your information is to comply with our legal obligations and to carry out tasks in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority for example:

  • Local Government (Miscellaneous) Provisions Act 1976
  • Town Police Clauses Act 1847 & 1889
  • Transport Act 1985, 1991
  • Equality Act 2010
  • Criminal Justice & Public Order Act 1994
  • Immigration Act 2016
  • Deregulation Act 2015
  • The Air Quality (Taxis and Private Hire Vehicles Database) England Wales Regulations 2019 

Who will your personal data be shared with?

We may share some information with other local authorities and enforcement organisations including but not limited to The Police. In addition, we may share some information with:

  • Internal council departments who require access to your information for the purpose of administration, regulation and law enforcement.

From time to time, we may share your information with other council departments if the law allows us to do so.

  • Cabinet Office (as part of the National Fraud Initiative)

The Council has a legal duty to submit information to the government as part of the National Fraud Initiative (NFI).

  • HM Revenue and Customs

The Council has a statutory duty under schedule 23 of the Finance Act 2011 to submit returns to the HMRC.

National Anti-Fraud Network (NAFN)

  • The Council shares information with NAFN as part of the national database of taxi and PHV driver licence refusals, suspensions and revocations (NR3S); for more information, please read the NFAN's online Privacy Policy.
  • Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA)

The Council shares information with DEFRA as required by The Air Quality (Taxis and Private Hire Vehicles Database) (England and Wales) Regulations 2019. The information we are required to share with DEFRA includes Vehicle Registration Mark, the start and expiry date of the vehicle licence, whether the vehicle is a taxi or PHV, the name of the licensing authority, the licence plate number and an indication of whether it is a wheelchair accessible vehicle. Please read DEFRA's Privacy Notice for more information.

  • Councillors who sit on the Council's Licensing and Regulatory Committee

Where we refer your application or licence (in the case of a review) to the Committee for determination.

  • Publicly available

When your application goes to Licensing Committee (South Hams District Council) or Development Management and Licensing Committee (West Devon Borough Council), the details of your application are made publicly available so that the decisions the Council makes are open and transparent. Some personal information, such as criminal conviction, is not made publicly available, however Committee Members will have that information to enable them to make a decision on your licence application or licence or both.

Please note that a register may be published on the Council's website and will show private hire operator details including name, business address and telephone number, start and end date of their licence, and licence number. The register may also show licensed driver details such as name, start date and end date of their licence and licence number, as well as licensed vehicle details, including name of licence holder, vehicle registration, make and model of vehicle, start and end date of licence, and licence number.

We may be required or permitted, under data protection legislation, to disclose your personal data without your explicit consent, for example if we have a legal obligation to do so, such as for:

  • Law enforcement
  • Fraud investigations
  • Regulation and licensing
  • Criminal prosecutions
  • Court proceedings

The Councils will never sell your data to anyone else.

Transferring of data outside the EU

Your data will not be transferred outside the EU. It will be securely stored electronically within the UK only, unless it was necessary for safeguarding or for the prevention and detection of crime.

Length of time we keep your information

We will keep your personal data for as long as is necessary, unless superseded by statutory regulation, and we will dispose of it securely when it is no longer needed.

  • Information submitted as part of an application - 11 years after the date in which the application is refused
  • Information held in respect of a licence - 11 years after the date from which the licence ceases to be held
  • Information received as part of an enforcement investigation - for a minimum of 11 years and then for only so long as may be necessary to inform a decision to protect the public

Individual rights

You have a number of rights under the General Data Protection Regulations. These can be found on the ICO website.

If you would like to exercise any of these rights, please email the data protection officer.

The Data Controller for your information

South Hams District Council
Follaton House,
Plymouth Road,
Totnes,
Devon
TQ9 5NE

Data Protection Officer

The Councils have a duty to appoint a Data Protection Officer. The Council's Data Protection Officer is Drew Powell, South Hams District Council, Follaton House, Plymouth Road, Totnes, Devon TQ9 5NE

If you have any queries about our privacy notices or would like to exercise your data rights or make a complaint, please contact the Data Protection Officer by email, telephoning 01803 861234 or writing to them at Data Protection Officer, South Hams District Council, Follaton House, Plymouth Road, Totnes, Devon TQ9 5NE

If you are not happy with how we have handled your complaint, you have the right to contact the Information Commissioner's Office to raise your concerns about how we have processed your information or how we have responded to your request to exercise any of your rights in relation to your information:

  • Telephone them on 0303 123 1113
  • Visit their website at www.ico.org.uk/concerns
  • Write to them at:
    Information Commissioner's Office
    Wycliffe House
    Water Lane
    Wilmslow
    Cheshire
    SK9 5AF