Review of Private Hire Cars “Backflash”

The Licensing and Regulatory Committee has a historic policy that an ‘innervision’ or ‘contravision’ style sign or product of the same or similar type be positioned at the bottom or top of the rear windscreen identifying the booking office to which the licensed private hire car belongs - name and telephone number. This can be known as the “back flash”.

The Licensing Section is aware from the Council’s Taxi and Private Hire Enforcement Officers that they have received several complaints regarding private hire car back flashes. These complaints have raised concerns that the back flash makes rear visibility poor for drivers, some back flashes are of poor quality and some back flashes no longer remain affixed to private hire car rear windscreens.

On 1 March 2023 the Licensing and Regulatory Committee agreed for the Director of Legal and Administration to carry out a review of the back flash policy for private hire cars, by way of a consultation, and to report back accordingly with the findings of the review.