London Taxi and Private Hire (LTPH) has confirmed the locations for six new vehicle inspection centres to be managed by NSL from February 2013.

NSL won the contract to provide the vehicle licensing and inspections service for London’s taxis and private hire vehicles in March this year.

Following discussions with the taxi and private hire trades and NSL, the six new vehicle inspection centres will be at the following locations:

• North Site – Watermill Business Park, Enfield
• South Site – Redlands Industrial Estate, Coulsdon
• East Site – Acorn Industrial Park, Crayford
• West Site – Air Links Industrial Estate, Hounslow
• Central East – 1 North Crescent, Canning Town
• Central West – Aquarius Business Park, Staples Corner

NSL will be licensing taxis under the new licensing regime which requires taxi vehicle owners to ensure their vehicles have passed an MOT no more than 14 days prior to inspection and to carry out a further MOT six months from the date the licence is issued.  The private hire vehicle licensing regime will remain unchanged.

Helen Chapman, Deputy Director for Taxi and Private Hire, said; “After positive discussions with members from both the taxi and private hire trades, we are pleased to confirm the locations for the new inspection centres.  We believe that drivers will find the inspection centres are in convenient locations and will meet their expectations.”

Dale Wood, Business Processing Director for NSL, said; “We’re excited to be working with TfL in providing taxi and private hire vehicle drivers with greater and more state-of-the-art control and accessibility in booking their inspections, renewing and applying for licenses, as well as offering a great choice of inspection locations.”

As well as providing the taxi and private hire vehicle licensing and inspection service, NSL will also be responsible for the provision of an end-to-end IT system which will be used by LTPH staff for all other licensing and compliance activities.