WOLVERHAMPTON PHV SIGNAGE
CONCERN FOR PUBLIC WELFARE FOLLOWING POLICIES TO REMOVE SIGNAGE ON PHVs ACROSS THE COUNTRY To Louise Haigh MP, Secretary of State for Transport
Hello Ms Haigh, this email relates to the DfT’s Best Practice Guidelines for Taxis and Private Hire Vehicles (the Guidelines) issued in November 2023.
My fiance and I own a PH company in Kent called iCars (Swale) Ltd. We have dual operator licences with Swale BC and Wolverhampton Council (the largest licensing authority outside London) which has recently imple- mented new policies which are causing a great deal of concern nationally, though Wolverhampton says it is simply following new DfT Guidelines. The case has been reported on by PHTM and by the BBC in the Midlands.
Our main issue is with the insistence that operators of PHVs must remove all door signage. Whilst we may retain a small logo on the back of cars, all side livery must be withdrawn. The DfT appears to think this will:
a) make customers safer b) reduce public confusion between taxis and PHVs c) make it harder for bogus PHV drivers to operate.
We would like to counter all three of these claims.... MAKING CUSTOMERS SAFER
How can the removal of highly visible and recognisable door signage improve safety? In reality we have many customers who are vulnerable due to age, infirmity and disabilities for whom the familiar, visible and recognisable door signs are their assurance of the first class, safe service they expect from iCars. The DfT guide- lines say customers must in future rely on text messages instead which should give the make, model and regis- tration of their vehicle. Many of our customers tell us this is going to make them less safe. Real life examples are:
• Many of our elderly customers who do not have mobile phones to receive text messages and they book their cars on landlines many hours or days before travelling. At that point it is not possible to state categorically which vehicle will be coming for them.
• Pat, an octogenarian with dementia goes to Bingo three nights a week as her only means of social interaction. iCars has contracted with her family to ensure that she gets back into her flat safely at the end of the night. She doesn’t have a mobile phone and the booking is using her daughter’s landline. Without iCars
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on the side of the car, how is she supposed to find her iCars vehicle amongst the many cars (taxis, PHVs and private vehicles) lined up outside the Bingo hall at 9:30pm? If we can’t get right in front of the doors there is a real danger that she gets into the car of the first unscrupulous fraudster that she comes across. So the DfT is effectively discriminating against people like Pat.
• Sheppey Blind Club use us every fortnight, booking several cars through the one lady who does have enough sight to have a mobile phone. That is around 15 people who rely on the big recognisable iCars logo to assure them that their car has arrived. They cannot walk around to the back of the vehicle safely to find out if there is an iCars logo there and they do not get text messages to say what the vehicle registration is. Again, the DfT is discriminating against these people.
• Users of Willows Respite Day Care for dementia sufferers rely on us to take them and collect them safely at the end of the day. The contract is with their families and they do not have mobile phones. Care centre staff know that these very vulnerable people are collected in cars with our distinctive and easily recognisable logos on the doors. Does the DfT expect the care home staff to leave their other patients unattended while they walk around the back of the vehicles to check for an iCars logo? Again, the DfT is discriminating against these people.
•We regularly take vulnerable young people to and from schools across the Medway towns from a foster caring family nearby. These children are very vulnerable and we work hard to build up a level of trust and communication which their carers who rely on us to ensure the children come back safely at the end of the day. The school staff again recognise our vehicle logos and work with our drivers to ensure that these sometimes troubled youngsters get back home safely. How are they to ensure this if they have to walk around every such vehicle in their very busy car parks to find the company logos. They don’t have the car registration to look for. Is the DfT casting aside their safety?
REDUCE CONFUSION BETWEEN TAXIS AND PHVs
The DfT Guidelines acknowledge the need for both taxis and PHVs in meeting the need for public tran-
SEPTEMBER 2024 PHTM
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