Issue - meetings

The Committee received a report from the Environmental Health Manager regarding the postponement of the mandatory installation of CCTV within Hackney Carriage and Private Hire vehicles to 1 September 2023.

The Committee made the following comments:

i.               Noted the financial hardships experienced by taxi drivers.

ii.             CCTV would protect the safety of both drivers and passengers.

iii.            Noted that a taxi driver had emailed members of the Committee in advance of the meeting with their concerns which had been raised at the meeting by public speakers.

iv.           Felt CCTV footage would have assisted members at Licensing Sub Committee hearings.

v.             The cost of installing CCTV had been discussed at Taxi Forums and also noted that there was a cost to replace tinted windows in taxis if the window tint did not meet the Council’s specification. Commented that it may cost less to install CCTV rather than replace tinted windows; and referred to recommendation 2.1.1 of the ‘Tinted windows in Licensed Vehicles’ report (minute ref: 23/13/Lic) which provided that ‘Vehicles installed with CCTV (meeting / exceeding Cambridge City Council specification) were exempt from council rear passenger window tint requirements’.

vi.           Queried if taxi vehicle owners could achieve reduced costs for the installation of CCTV if they explored a ‘group buy’ option.

vii.          Noted that there were limited Sharia financial products for lower value loans, a number of taxi drivers had used Abbey Food Bank. Noted a number of taxi drivers had not been able to access covid grant / funding.

viii.        Asked the Committee to consider a longer deferral period for the installation of CCTV.

In response to Members’ questions the Environmental Health Manager said the following:

      i.         The CCTV recording would be held on a computer hard drive and would only be accessed if there was an incident which required the images to be viewed by a Licensing Officer. The CCTV would be managed in the same way that the Council managed CCTV for other services.

    ii.         Reassured Members that the CCTV specification was compatible with EV vehicles and that they had checked that the installation of CCTV should not drain an EV’s battery. Would follow up the specific issue which had been raised regarding Tesla model 3 vehicle.

   iii.         Officers awaited the outcome of the consultation on the Government’s Statutory Guidance on Taxis which was looking at reviewing whether CCTV should be a legal requirement.

The Committee:

Resolved (by 7 votes in favour to 2 against) that:

      i.         The implementation of CCTV in licensed vehicles in a phased and manageable approach be postponed to the 1st September 2023.

    ii.         Any grant of a new vehicle licence or renewal of an existing licensed vehicle from 1st September 2023, vehicle must be fitted with CCTV. This would see all licenced vehicles installed with CCTV by 31st August 2024.