ALL THINGS LICENSING VEHICLE SIGNAGE
Certainly, there are arguments both for and against vehicle signage. On the one hand, operators may want to display company signage on their vehicle to
promote their
standard colour such as black or white may not achieve the desired result of making the vehicle easily and uniquely identifiable. Then there is the question of what may happen to all the black or white private hire vehicles licensed.
The reports accompanying the policy to the Licensing Committee and Full Council described a number of potential benefits to a livery, such as improving identification, creating a strong local identity and increasing safety by giving members of the public confidence that they are stepping into a licensed vehicle.
Unfortunately the licensed trade was on the whole not supportive of this idea and there was limited engagement with the consultation from the trade. In order to try and encourage participation, the council held working groups, drop in sessions and forums in order to try and engage with the trade. The position of a minority of the trade was very much that if a livery were adopted, this decision would be challenged.
The council also contributed 25% of the cost, up to a value of £315, for vehicles which adopted the livery in the first seven months. We had around 30 proprietors taking us up on this offer, out of approximately 180 licensed vehicles.
At the time of the policy adoption, taxi licensing had been under the microscope a great deal with terrible events taking place in places such as Rotherham and South Ribble, with many council’s looking at ways to improve safety in this service area. The approach to vehicle identification in the 2010 edition of the Department for Transport ‘Best Practice’ Guidance discusses the importance of being able to distinguish between hackney carriages and private hire vehicles, and the rationale for livery, amongst the range of measures was that the public stepping into a teal- coloured vehicle in Guildford could be confident that they were using a licensed vehicle, driven by a driver who had completed a professional qualification.
PHTM MARCH 2023
licensed services. On the other the more signage on a vehicle may confuse customers into believing that a private hire vehicle is a taxi.
The current version of the Best Practice Guidance goes on to suggest a number of measures to distinguish between the two categories of licensed vehicles, with door signage indicating the vehicle cannot be hired immediately and contact details for the operator in order to facilitate a booking being seen as current best practice.
However the 2010 edition of the Best Practice Guidance is obviously well before the significant changes in the sector and it remains to be seen what the anticipated update to the guidance will suggest in terms of vehicle signage.
The draft version of the Best Practice Guidance appears to try and cater for every eventuality by specifying that licensing authorities should seek to minimise the profile of private hire vehicles at the same time as allowing signage under some circumstances. Unfortunately this is only likely to create confusion and inconsistency and I am sure most of us are eagerly awaiting how this issue can be addressed when the final version is published.
Clearly we will have to wait and see what the Best Practice Guidance suggests for this and other areas where there is variation between authorities. In whatever way this guidance differs from the consultation draft, there will be significant changes for both local authorities and the licensed trade.
There is no more important time than now to be ‘in the know’ about licensing issues affecting the industry and I would again encourage members of the trade to ensure they keep up to date by joining the Institute of Licensing.
Full details are available at:
www.instituteoflicensing.org
71
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84
