LATEST UPDATE CHANGE IS ALMOST HERE!!


For many months now we have been alerting you to the changes that are coming, forecasting the effects of Covid, attending meetings with government bodies and trying our best to not only keep you in the loop, but to be one step ahead as much as possible.


TINTED WINDOWS


You may remember our articles from July and August on tinted windows, this campaign continues. We have been communicating with various bodies from local authorities to government bodies, stating our case, discussing why there is such a pressing need to an amendment, and the effect such restrictive policies are having on the availability of new or even modern (nearly new vehicles).


We have seen responses from some which attempt to suggest there are various models of new vehicles available with clear glass. This is simply not the case, as can be verified by those who specialise in the supply and manufacture of vehicles, even vehicle dealerships and franchises, such as Car ‘n’ Cab care in the Wirral, the Chorley Group, and various others. These people actually know what they are talking about, as they are in discussions with vehicle manufacturers; so with the greatest of respect, I would be far more inclined to believe the opinion of specialists, as opposed to council officials who are simply trying to justify their own outdated policies.


NEW GOVERNMENT GUIDELINES


There is to be a DfT consultation on new government Best Practice Guidance in the very near future, where it is likely to be suggested that: “where there is a requirement to maintain such restrictive policies, there must be verified evidence to support such a condition, and not merely an opinion,” - in fact this is also suggested within the Regulators Code 2014.


With that in mind, the next time we hear any council official attempting to justify a tinted windows condition by saying: “We need to be able to see inside the vehicle to verify that the driver is not carrying more passengers than the vehicle is licensed for”; their task, in order to justify such a comment as being anything less that ludicrous, will be to stand at the road- side of a busy main road, NOT AT A JUNCTION, with a clipboard and a pen, in the dark, and count how many people are in the back of any vehicle (licensed or otherwise) as the vehicle passes them at 30mph, with or without clear windows. In fact, lets go a stage further, and ask them to list, how many of those vehicles had clear glass, and how many did not.


This topic is even more odd and hard to understand, when we see neighbouring councils, which are combining enforcement, and yet one allows manufacturers’ standard glass regardless


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This attitude was more recently echoed by the Police and Crime Commissioner for North East Derbyshire who said the same thing whilst supporting the move to introduce CCTV into licensed vehicles in her region and called on other local authorities to follow suit. Naturally we responded via email, making the suggestion that if she considered this to be such a good idea, “for public protection” then maybe she should consider funding the move out of the pots of funding such as Community Safety Partnerships, Street-safe schemes, the IPCC and various other sources that local authorities can make use of for such “public protective measures”.


DEACTIVATIONS AND SUSPENSIONS


From the sheer volume of drivers who have been falsely accused of an offence, we would suggest, and have indeed suggested several times, that it may actually have the reverse effect, and lead to prosecutions against those who wilfully and intentionally threaten drivers’ reputation, livelihoods and freedom by making such viscous false allegations.


Such false allegations lead to internal company deactivations, often without warning, suspensions with immediate effect, which of course then result in drivers not being able to work


NOVEMBER 2021


Last July, following a wait that seemed like an eternity, with many consultations and delays due to GDPR, Brexit, Covid, and so many more, the Government finally responded to the Task and Finish report by issuing Statutory Standards. We did respond to this last August, with lots of examples as to why driver protection is just as important as it is for their passen- gers. There were a few aspects to these new standards including drivers having to subscribe to the DBS update ser- vice, (although most already were anyway) so that councils could perform verification checks every six months, (if they were not already checking more frequently anyway).


But the resounding theme of this document was to improve passenger safety, even as far as to suggest that by having CCTV in vehicles, the “victims of reported rape” may result in more drivers being prosecuted, as quoted here: “In addition, the evidential benefits of CCTV may increase the level of reporting of sexual offences.”


DERBYSHIRE PCC HAILS N.E. DERBYSHIRE COUNCIL’S DECISION TO MAKE CCTV COMPULSORY IN TAXIS


of tint, yet their neighbour/partnering authority does not!!


All the more reason to repeat and echo the call for National Standards, of course with an element of localism, but with a generic theme, and a common-sense approach. This would remove the risk of confusing conditions but also ensure that conditions suitable for London are not echoed in rural dis- tricts. A fair and reasonable sytem for everyone.


STATUTORY STANDARDS


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