IoL - ALL THINGS LICENSING
The issue of privacy glazing is discussed in the recent draft Taxi and Private Hire Licensing Best Practice Guidance consulted on by the Department for Transport.
The position of the consultation draft was: TINTED WINDOWS IN GUILDFORD
The council has also updated its position on ‘Privacy Glazing’, which I am aware is a source of much contention from members of the trade. The council updated its Licensing Policy, approved in April 2021, reflecting the important public safety rationale of the Guidance issued by the DfT in July 2020, which updated the glazing requirement for licensed vehicles as follows:
The council’s policy and vehicle licence conditions state the vehicles glazing must have:
“A minimum light transmission value of 70% shall be maintained in all windows except a windscreen, which shall have a minimum light transmission value of 75%”
This was an update on the previous position which permitted factory fitted ‘privacy glass’ in the rear windows. As the trade will be aware, privacy glass is glazing which is darker in appearance and allows a light transmission of less than 70%, in some cases less than 20%. Many vehicles are man- ufactured with glass that is darker than the Council’s Policy limit fitted to windows rear of the driver, especially in luxury, estate and people carrier style vehicles.
The original rationale for this update was one of public safety. Customers want to be confident when entering a vehicle that there are no potential dangers awaiting them in the vehicle. Similarly, potential attacks on drivers can be reduced if the actions of customers in the rear of the vehicle can be easily seen. Transparent glazing also allows officers and the police to quickly check that the vehicle is not carrying more passengers than permitted.
However, following the policy update the council has received approximately a dozen applications where a vehicle has non-complaint glazing installed. This glazing is installed at the time of manufacture and costly to replace. This is having an implication for the licensed trade who are having a limited choice of vehicles to present for licensing, or are having to replace glazing vehicles installed in vehicles at the time of manufacture at a considerable cost, often several thousand pounds.
AUGUST 2022
“If the objective of the authority’s prohi- bition of tinted windows is to address a concern that illegal activity is taking place
in a vehicle, the evidence for this should be estab- lished and alternative options should be considered, for example, CCTV in vehicles. When licensing vehi- cles, authorities should be mindful of this as well as the significant costs and inconvenience associated with changing glass that conforms with the require- ments of vehicle construction regulations.
In the absence of evidence to show that a requirement for the removal of factory fitted windows is necessary and proportionate, licensing authorities should not require their removal as part of vehicle specifications.”
After considering the above draft guidance, together with the consideration that from April 2023 all Guildford licensed vehicles must be fitted with CCTV, I presented a report to Licensing Committee in July recommending to return to the previous policy requirement which allowed privacy glass installed at the time of manufacture in licensed vehicles which had a light transmission at a lower level than the 70% stipulated by conditions.
The Committee agreed and hopefully this update will be welcomed by the trade and provide them with a wider number of vehicles to present for licensing, or reduce costs for those who have purchased a vehicle which does not meet requirements.
SUMMER READING
If you use the summer holidays as a great opportunity to read the latest best seller or, like me to catch up on professional publications of interest, such as PHTM, yet again, there is no more important time to be ‘in the know’ about licensing issues affecting the trade.
I would again encourage members of the trade to join the Institute of Licensing which produces a number of inter- esting publications which you can add to your reading collection either as you relax by the pool or queue at the transport hub to get there!
Full details are available at:
www.instituteoflicensing.org. 69
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