The German P-Schein: which transport drivers actually need it

The colloquial P-Schein is called Fahrerlaubnis zur Fahrgastbeförderung in the statute. Under section 48 (1) FeV, this additional permit is required in exactly two cases: when someone drives a Krankenkraftwagen (an ambulance or patient transport vehicle) in which passengers are carried for payment or on a commercial basis, or when someone drives a motor vehicle carrying passengers and that journey requires a licence under the Passenger Transport Act.

The second case matters more day to day, and it moves the question from driving licence law to passenger transport law. Whether a P-Schein is needed does not depend on the vehicle, the company, or whether the operator holds a private hire licence somewhere. It depends on the individual journey. Under section 1 (1) PBefG, the Act covers the carriage of persons for payment or on a commercial basis. Exceptions include journeys by passenger car that are free of charge or whose total fare does not exceed the mileage allowance of 30 cents per kilometre under section 5 (2) BRKG (the federal travel expenses act), and ambulance journeys for people who need medical care on the way.

Section 48 (2) FeV also exempts some cases expressly. Ambulances of the armed forces, the police, civil protection, fire brigades and the rescue services recognised under state law need no P-Schein. And anyone who holds driving licence class D or D1 needs it for no motor vehicle at all.

The overview below goes through the types of service that typically run side by side in a German transport business. It assumes a driver with class B but without D or D1.

The exemption rests on the wording of section 1 no. 4 of the Freistellungs-Verordnung (the German exemption regulation): exempt are journeys by or for a Schulträger to and from lessons (letter d) and journeys of people with physical, intellectual or psychological disabilities to and from facilities that care for them (letter g), in each case only if the people carried pay no fare. We cover what the exemption includes and where the borderline cases lie in our article on exempt school transport under the FrStllgV.

A wheelchair vehicle is not an ambulance

A minibus with a ramp and wheelchair spaces is not a Krankenkraftwagen. Under section 4 (6) PBefG, Krankenkraftwagen are vehicles specially equipped for patient transport or emergency rescue and recognised as such in the vehicle registration. For a converted wheelchair van, the second case of section 48 (1) FeV applies, not the first: a P-Schein is needed only if the specific journey requires a licence.

Where the answer stays open

For private patient transport in an ambulance, the exception depends on whether the business counts as a rescue service recognised under state law. The rescue service acts of the German states regulate this differently, and federal law does not say whether a contracted private operator qualifies. Get the view of your driving licence authority in writing before you put drivers without a P-Schein on an ambulance. Without such a decision, the safer plan is the P-Schein, which can be issued for ambulances from the age of 19.

Under section 6 (1) FeV, class B covers vehicles up to 3,500 kg gross weight designed for no more than eight persons besides the driver. The classic nine-seater is therefore still a class B vehicle. As soon as more passenger seats are fitted, at least class D1 is required: up to 16 persons besides the driver and no more than 8 m in length.

Holders of D1 or D need no P-Schein under section 48 (2) no. 4 FeV, not even in private hire. That saves little paperwork, though. Under section 23 (1) FeV, D1 is issued for five years at most, and under section 24 (1) FeV it is renewed only with proof of medical fitness and eyesight, plus a performance test from the age of 50. Commercial journeys with D1 vehicles also fall under the Berufskraftfahrerqualifikationsgesetz (the professional driver qualification act), which requires an initial qualification. Non-commercial carriage is among its exceptions.

It is unclear whether a D1 holder driving a taxi or private hire car must also prove Fachkunde. Section 48 (7) FeV forbids the vehicle keeper to allow passenger transport if the driver “has not proven the required Fachkunde”, while subsection 2 no. 4 exempts D1 holders from the P-Schein altogether. Ask your driving licence and licensing authorities for their view.

With more than nine persons including the driver, the vehicle also becomes a bus in legal terms, and the EU driving and rest time rules apply. What that means for rostering is covered in our article on driving and rest times in transport services.

The conditions for issue are set out exhaustively in section 48 (4) FeV. An applicant must:

• hold the driving licence for the vehicle used, class B for a passenger car
• be at least 21 years old, or 19 if the permit is restricted to ambulances
• have held class B for at least two years, or within the last five years, or one year for ambulances
• provide a certificate of good conduct under section 30 (5) BZRG for submission to an authority, and a current extract from the driving aptitude register
• prove physical and mental fitness under Annex 5 FeV, including on first issue a test of resilience, orientation, concentration, attention and reaction
• meet the eyesight standards of Annex 6 no. 2 FeV
• for ambulances, show first aid training; for taxi, private hire and pooled on-demand transport, show proof of Fachkunde

Medical certificates under Annex 5 may be no more than one year old when the application is made. The performance test must be certified by an occupational health report or an approved driving aptitude assessment centre.

Validity and renewal

Under section 48 (5) FeV, the P-Schein is issued for no more than five years and renewed on application for up to five years at a time. For renewal, the holder must again prove fitness, eyesight, good conduct and a clean register extract. From the age of 60, section 48 (6) FeV adds the Annex 5 no. 2 performance test again. Section 48 FeV sets no earliest date for applying for renewal; processing times are up to each authority. Plan in weeks rather than days, because the doctor’s appointment, the report and the certificate of good conduct all have to be in hand first.

What it costs

Authority fees are set nationwide in the German road traffic fee schedule: 5.10 euros for checking the application (no. 201), 35.70 euros for first issue (no. 202.1) and 28.60 euros for renewal (no. 204). On top come costs with no national tariff: the medical examination, performance test, eye test, certificate of good conduct, register extract and, where applicable, the Fachkunde exam. Ask local providers for actual prices before you agree with a driver who pays for what.

The Act to Modernise Passenger Transport Law of 16 April 2021 (Federal Law Gazette I p. 822) also amended section 48 FeV. Since 2 August 2021, taxi drivers no longer have to pass the Ortskundeprüfung (local knowledge test). The Hamburg driving licence authority explains that the legislator no longer considered the test necessary given how widespread navigation technology has become (LBV Hamburg). It was replaced by the proof of Fachkunde under section 48 (4) no. 7 FeV, for taxi, private hire and pooled on-demand transport alike. An applicant who wants the P-Schein for ambulances only does not need it.

The proof is issued by a “suitable body” designated by the supreme state authority for passenger transport law, so implementation started differently from state to state. The Berlin licensing office initially issued new P-Scheine without proof of Fachkunde, on condition that the permit lapses if the proof is not submitted by the first renewal at the latest (LABO Berlin). According to the Hamburg transport authority, Hamburg initially issued permits for two years and required the Fachkunde proof to follow within a year once it had been regulated. According to LABO, holders of a P-Schein issued before 2 August 2021 did not need to do anything.

The duty does not fall on the driver alone. Under section 48 (7) FeV, the vehicle keeper must not order or allow passenger transport if the driver lacks the required permit or has not proven the required Fachkunde. Both are administrative offences under section 75 no. 12 FeV, even when committed negligently. The German fines catalogue sets a standard fine of 75 euros each under nos. 171 and 172, for the driver and for the keeper. Failing to show the P-Schein on request costs another 10 euros under no. 251.

It becomes far more serious when what is missing is not the P-Schein but the licence class, for example when a class B driver drives a minibus with twelve passenger seats or his D1 has expired. Then section 21 StVG (the Road Traffic Act) applies: a keeper who orders or allows someone to drive without the required driving licence commits a criminal offence, punishable with up to one year in prison or a fine if intentional, and up to six months or a fine of up to 180 daily rates if negligent. The vehicle can be confiscated.

The follow-on costs usually lie outside the fine. The client will ask whether the driver qualifications promised in the contract were in place. The licensing authority can take repeated breaches into account when assessing the operator’s reliability. And after an accident, the insurer will check whether the driver was entitled to drive. What follows from that depends on your policy terms. Read the driving licence clause before it matters.

“Allowing” can also mean not looking. An operator who deploys a driver whose P-Schein expired three weeks ago will struggle to argue ignorance when the expiry date sat in the company’s own files.

With ten drivers, a spreadsheet does the job. With forty drivers holding P-Scheine, D1 licences, Fachkunde conditions, certificates of good conduct for the school authority and professional driver training, there are several hundred dates, and all of them expire sooner or later. A fixed routine works best:

1. 1See the original, file a copyAsk to see the driving licence and P-Schein in the original when you hire, not just a photo. Record classes, expiry dates, restrictions such as “ambulances only” and any conditions in the official notice.
2. 2Set reminders with lead timeFor every document, record not just the expiry date but a reminder with enough lead time for the doctor, the report and the authority. Three months is a sensible figure for most cases.
3. 3Re-check at fixed intervalsA driving licence can be withdrawn between two expiry dates. Repeat the visual check at fixed intervals and record the date and who checked.
4. 4Tie the qualification to the tripRecord in dispatch which service type a trip belongs to and which permit it requires. A driver without a P-Schein on a private hire trip then shows up at planning stage, not at a roadside check.
5. 5Expired means blockedA driver whose permit has expired is not scheduled for the affected trips until the renewal is in. This rule has to hold without exceptions, including on a Monday morning with three drivers off sick.

The fourth step is where spreadsheets fail. A spreadsheet knows when Mr K.’s P-Schein expires. It does not know that Mr K. has a private hire patient journey at 2 pm tomorrow on what is otherwise an exempt round. Only tour planning knows that. This is why driver qualifications belong where trips are assigned, whether you dispatch patient transport, school transport or a wheelchair transport service.