CCTV: YOUR SECURITY


FAREHAM TAXIS AND PHVS TO HAVE CCTV INSTALLED TO HELP PREVENT CRIME


Councillors have mandated taxi and PHV drivers to install CCTV following Fareham BC’s Licensing and Regulatory Affairs committee on 4 September. In July, Hampshire and Isle of Wight PCC, Donna Jones, lobbied licensing authorities to mandate CCTV in taxis following the con- viction of a driver in Southampton for sexually assaulting a passenger, where CCTV in the taxi ‘played quite a big part in the conviction and prevented the victim from reliving the ordeal in court’.


Cll Pamela Bryant, chair of the committee, said members have a duty to protect the public and taxi drivers ‘it works both ways’. In a poll of 77 people in the licensed trade, 68% objected to having to install CCTV, mainly due to cost. 48% of cabbies said they’ve faced threats while working, and 41% already have CCTV. In another survey of 95 members of the public, four people said they experienced a crime while in a taxi. Notably, 74% said they’d feel safer in taxis with CCTV, and 61%


supported making it mandatory. Cllr Sue Walker added: “Maybe we should be going back to the PCC and saying, this is a good idea but are you going to put any funding towards helping the taxi drivers.” Committee members agreed the date for existing drivers to install CCTV should be brought forward to 31 December 2024. A spokesperson added that the PCC believes the scheme should be funded using the same model as Portsmouth, Southampton and Gosport.


CCTV WILL NOT BE MANDATORY IN EAST CAMBS TAXIS AND PRIVATE HIRE VEHICLES


East Cambridgeshire DC has decided there is not enough evidence to support making CCTV mandatory for the taxis and PHVs licensed in the area. The authority consulted with drivers and members of the public on potentially requiring CCTV. While it only received 35 responses,


officers said the “overwhelming response” from cabbies was that they currently felt safe at work, with only 20% indicating they would support mandatory CCTV. The majority of the public who responded said they currently felt safe using taxis, but four people did say they may use taxis more if


INVERNESS CABBIES ADVISED TO FIT CCTV FOR PROTECTION


Inverness taxi drivers are being advised to fit CCTV within their vehicles to protect themselves from abuse or threats. The advice from the Inverness Taxi Alliance (ITA) comes after a viral video seemed to show one driver facing a lengthy tirade of racist abuse from a passenger prompted discussion on the abusive


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behaviour drivers and operators face. (See Terror story on page 63.) ITA vice chairman Duncan Fraser said abuse of drivers was, sadly, nothing new. He said: “There has been a large rise in the number of foreign nationals driving taxis and as a result I would say racist abuse particularly is becoming more common.”


mandatory CCTV was introduced. Witcham Parish Council also wrote to the council saying mandatory CCTV would be “beneficial”. Officers told councillors at the district council’s licensing com- mittee on September 4, that the licensed drivers in East Cam- bridgeshire were “very professional and very compliant” and there were few issues raised with the authority because of this. They added that due to the “lack of evidence of an overwhelming underlying issue”, mandatory CCTV would be “disproportionate” and shouldn’t go ahead at this time. However, the committee did agree to update the wording of its policy for taxi drivers who choose to install CCTV, including that it would be a requirement for a driver to provide the footage to the district council, or the police, if lawfully requested.


OCTOBER 2023 PHTM


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