The licences, and our own BEA
Each licence answers a different question: the car, the driver, and who takes the booking. Get them in that order, and diary every expiry.
It took four pieces of paper to get from a car in our driveway to taking our own bookings. Here they are in order, with our dates, and what each one does and doesn’t let you do.
1. The car: registration and a booked hire service licence
3 August 2026. Our Kia EV9 was registered to the company for commercial use.
7 August 2026. TMR issued booked hire service licence 285467 for the car.
The BHSL is for the vehicle. It says this car may be used for booked hire. It does not say who may drive it, and it does not let you take bookings. It lasts 12 months and cannot be renewed: each year you apply for a new one, up to 6 weeks before the old one ends. TMR keeps checking the car’s registration, inspection certificate and insurance class all year.
2. The driver: driver authorisation
21 August 2026. TMR issued me an interim driver authorisation in the booked hire and taxi category.
This is the one about you: your licence history, criminal history, traffic history and a commercial medical. If you are approved, TMR gives you an interim authority, which is what lets you drive while the card is made.
With a licensed car and an authorised driver, you can drive for a ride-booking app like Uber, which is the booking entity for those trips. That’s how I started driving, with my first Uber trip on 24 August 2026.
3. The name: a business name and a sign
22 September 2026. DYCOMDRIVE was registered as a business name of the company.
We did this before applying for our BEA because the sign on the car has to identify the booking entity clearly. Settle the name first, then design the sign around it.
4. Taking our own bookings: the booking entity authorisation
24 September 2026. We lodged our BEA application.
30 September 2026. TMR granted BEA 289710, effective that day, with no conditions. Our vehicle identification sign (the DyCom ring mark, DYCOMDRIVE and a blue frame) was approved the same day.
Everything before this date was concept and build. We designed our booking system, built it and tested it. It began running under our own BEA on 30 September.
I’m giving you our dates because they are true, not because yours will match. Every application is assessed on its own, and TMR does not publish a processing time for new BEAs.
What the BEA changes
Being your own booking entity means the duties the app company used to carry are now yours. Among them:
- a written fare estimate before every trip;
- a booking record for every booking, kept at least 2 years;
- your approved sign on the front and rear windscreens while you are available for hire;
- receipts on request;
- a written fatigue record of when each driver is working or available;
- training for every driver, even if the only driver is you;
- a safety management plan you develop from the risks you identify in your own operation, and follow (it is not lodged with TMR, but it is your duty);
- quarterly and annual reports to TMR.
I chose not to drive a single trip under our own BEA until our shift log was built. That happened on 7 October 2026.
General information, not legal advice. The full pathway, with TMR’s requirements and links, is on the guidance page.