to the ICO where all points will be raised to justify the release of the information.
Despite pointing out all these reasons Lewes District Council has refused to budge.
When you consider that any vehicle can be checked online for the MoT and that vehicles appear in the media with VRM’s in full view the ruling by the ICO is illogical.
Also where licensed vehicles only carry a council Compli- ance Certificate and not an MoT certificate then without a Public Register available (which all councils should have online by law in my opinion) then the police will not be able to instantly check if the vehicle is legally allowed on the road.
It is therefore considered that these licensing authorities recognise the important public safety factor that is required.
• Purpose of the Pubic Register: If a Licensing Authority does not provide the minimum details of the vehicle index number to which the council licence is assigned then the Public Register held by any licensing authority which does not provide this information is not fit for purpose and puts the public at great risk.
• Unidentified cars working as private hire vehicles in Brighton & Hove: I must also make the point that in Brighton & Hove we have a major issue of many vehicles which are working as private hire vehicles which do not carry any local authority identification at all which could easily include those licensed by Lewes District Council. With this refusal to provide the requested information we have to reluctantly claim that Lewes District Council is now contributing to the risk of public safety.
• Child Sexual Exploitation and Human Trafficking: Brighton & Hove City Council has recently carried out training for its licensed drivers for child sexual exploitation and human trafficking awareness. Who is to say that such activity is not carried out by vehicles licensed by Lewes District Council which have removed all vehicle licensing informa- tion that predominantly work away from Lewes District Council enforcement?
• Having set out all the reasons as to why Lewes District Council should provide the index number of vehicles that have been assigned a licence for public hire I am therefore referring this matter back to Lewes District Council for reconsideration to provide the index number of each currently licensed hackney carriage and private hire vehicle as a matter of public safety.
• If Lewes District Council continues to withhold the requested information, I will then have to refer this matter
JULY 2021
I have written to the ICO and have urgently requested that there is a full review of the decision made because the ruling goes against public safety and safeguarding. I have also informed the ICO that if it is sticking to its ruling then it must write to all local licensing authorities to have them remove the VRM of every single licensed vehicle on their Public Registers. Good luck with TfL!
I do suggest that you all contact you own councils and put it to them that according to the ICO if the Public Register contains the VRM of licensed vehicles then there is a breach of GDPR.
If you are a licensing officer reading this then nip off to your Governance Information Team and ask them to assess this situation.
My own licensing authority, Brighton & Hove, is keeping the VRM info accessible until further notice and is making its own enquiry with the ICO.
I am pleased to say that to date having written to all the three main licensing authorities that have vehicles predomi- nantly working here I been refreshingly informed by one that until I get a response from the ICO (which I will pass on) “
...all our public registers stay as is!!!!!”
Now that is the attitude the Lewes District Council should take instead of finding an excuse to the hide the VRM data and hindering public safety....
Andy Peters Brighton & Hove Cab Trade Association
info@bhcta.co.uk
facebook.com/groups/bhcabta
www.bhcta.co.uk @cabsbrighton 79
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