Orihuela reopens applications for eight taxi licences, including four accessible vehicles

Orihuela has reopened the procedure to award eight taxi licences, four of them linked to vehicles adapted for people with reduced mobility, after changing the rules used to assess applications.

The decision, approved by the local governing board on 25 August, was published in Alicante’s provincial official gazette on 27 October together with a consolidated version of the competition rules.

A fresh window for new and existing applicants

The competition provides twenty calendar days for applications, counted from the day after that publication, and allows new candidates who meet the requirements to take part.

Previous applications remain valid and do not have to be submitted again in full; during the new window, candidates may complete, amend or replace them, including the supporting documents already provided.

Applications can be submitted through the council’s general register, its electronic office or the other legally permitted channels.

What changes in the assessment

The revision follows uncertainties identified by the assessment committee concerning professional experience, language certificates and the date on which unemployment must be demonstrated, alongside problems with the adequacy of supporting documents.

The official file considers that these issues could affect applicants’ scores and ranking, making it necessary to establish common rules before the final assessment can continue.

Professional experience as a taxi driver still earns one point for each complete full-time-equivalent month, up to 360 points; part-time work is counted proportionately and overlapping periods cannot be counted twice.

Language skills retain an overall maximum of 150 points, with certificates officially recognising the relevant level; only the highest certified level is assessed for each language.

Supporting documents must be complete, legible and verifiable, and partial copies will not suffice where they omit information essential to checking a claimed qualification or experience.

The licences have yet to be awarded

Once the application window closes, the council must prepare new provisional and final lists of accepted and excluded applicants before resuming the assessment of every submission under the same rules.

Reopening applications therefore does not mean that the eight new taxis are entering service: the licensing process still has to complete those remaining stages.