ECPH Advertising
This is the letter, originally sent in August 2008, which forms part of the ECPH submission.
"Ref. Application of 13/06/07 for clear identification of Festival City Cars vehicles
As indicated in the reference above, we applied for permission to use rear windscreen stickers on our fleet of Private Hire vehicles. This application was based on concerns for public safety. Copies of our original letter, and of the two subsequent letters pertaining to the same issue, are enclosed for your convenience.
To assist the Council in their decision to grant or deny permission to use such stickers, we had samples made of possible designs so that we could clearly demonstrate what the stickers would look like when applied to a vehicle. At the end of August 2007, at the Council´s request, we took a vehicle from our fleet to the Test centre in Sighthill, where the car was photographed by a member of staff. We were told that the photographs, accompanied by a written report, would be submitted to the Council for their consideration. Since that time we´ve heard nothing at all.
We don´t know if the Council´s failure to respond is due to a lack of committee time, or if our application has simply been mislaid in the bureaucratic mire, but the end result is the same. This is a serious application which took a lot of thought and effort to put together, and we are very frustrated that we don´t appear to have been given a hearing.
To make matters even more frustrating, there is little, if any, logic in denying Private Hire vehicles more prominent signage. If the fear is that Private Hire vehicle would be mistaken for Taxis, then surely signage could be designed which left no-one in any doubt that the vehicle was for Pre-Booked Hires only. As pointed out in our letter of 13th June ´07, enhanced signage for Private Hire cars would make the identification of any vehicles picking up illegally very much easier, and would thus act as an effective deterrent against such activity. Our proposed rear screen sticker took this potential concern into account when it was designed.
In fact we would go further than considering Festival City Cars´ application in isolation, and suggest that enhanced Private Hire signage should be mandatory for all Private Hire vehicles.
However, our application is for Festival City Cars only, and we request that it be considered in this light. In view of the long delay since our original application, we respectfully request that the matter be dealt with as soon as possible. If successful, we fully expect this measure to result in a significant improvement in safety standards for Edinburgh´s travelling public, and go a long way in preventing a recurrence of incidents similar to the dreadful abduction and rape of the young woman on Sunday 17th August, the occurrence of which is an example of what we always feared would inevitably happen.
Yours faithfully,
James Pert
Operations Manager
Festival City Cars
cc : Kenny MacAskill MSP
John Blain, Cab Office"
Additionally they have put forward this letter of support from the Edinburgh Women´s Rape and Sexual Abuse Centre
"Dear Kevin Woodburn
My sincerest apologies for being unable to respond sooner to your email below.
We would be very keen to support your important campaign. A number of women who use our service have disclosed that they have been subject to serious sexual assaults and rape after getting into vehicles they have believed to be licensed private hire taxis. As you note in your email, the very reason they have often booked or hailed these vehicles is for purposes of safety and protection. However, the lack of clear signage on private hire vehicles currently provides opportunities for perpetrators of sexual offences to entrap women, often on their own, and then assault them.
As you also note, the effects and impacts of rape and sexual assault are life-changing and can be lifelong- they include physical injuries, acute and chronic anxiety and stress, flashbacks, fear, panic attacks, low self-esteem, nightmares and night terrors, social isolation, depression and other forms of mental ill-health and suicidal feelings/ attempts. Many women describe how their experience(s) of sexual violence cross-cuts all aspects of their life- impacting on their physical, emotional and mental health, employment and/or education, family life, intimate relationships and friendships. Sexual violence thus has a devastating impact on women´s life chances and prospects.
Edinburgh City Council is a signatory to No Excuse! Edinburgh´s Multi-agency Strategy to Address Violence Against Women 2008-13 and the Edinburgh Violence Reduction Programme 2008-13, which both outline strategic priorities to improve women´s safety in Edinburgh. Nationally, all local authorities are signed up to Single Outcome Agreements with the Scottish Government, through which local outcomes must contribute to 15 national outcomes. National Outcome (9) is ´We live our lives safe from crime, disorder and danger.´ In addition, all local authorities must now under the Gender Equality Duty promote gender equality, and violence perpetrated against women remains a key form of gender inequality in Edinburgh and across Scotland.
We believe the signage you are proposing would make an important contribution to improving women´s safety in Edinburgh. It would give greater visibility to licensed private hire vehicles and provide important information, such as the name of the company and the booking office number displayed on the vehicles, so as to make them more easily identified to those individuals who have pre-booked their vehicle. We believe that such signage would enable women to make informed choices about the private hire vehicles they book or get into, and would reduce opportunities for would-be perpetrators, who currently take advantage of the fact that vehicles are not currently marked to pose as licensed vehicles, to have access to women, often vulnerable as they may be travelling on their own. If a woman is attacked by an individual driving a licensed vehicle, if this was marked she would have access to information about the company with which to furnish the police, should she choose to report.
No woman is ever to blame for rape and sexual assault- the responsibility lies firmly with the perpetrators of these crimes. We believe that the signage you are proposing would make an important difference to the safety of women in Edinburgh. We would therefore urge the City of Edinburgh Council to agree to your request for this signage to be displayed on licensed private hire vehicles. I will also forward your email and my response to colleagues in other organisations who may be interested in supporting this work and to the Edinburgh Violence Against Women Partnership, based in Edinburgh City Council´s community safety unit. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you would like any further information.
Edinburgh Women´s Rape and Sexual Abuse Centre"
Finally this has been sent to the council committee members from ECPH
Dear Councillor,
We have been campaigning for some three years for prominent signage to be permitted on Licensed Private Hire Cars. The basis of our application for better signage (which is allowed for in the License Conditions, if approved by Council) is founded in improving public safety, and is in line with the recommendations on the issue which are in the Scottish Executive's Best Practice guide for Councils. In our earliest attemept, made in June 2007, our application was rejected because 'we don't allow advertising on Private Hire Cars'. This decision, which we had to wait eighteen months to get, completely failed to mention the public safety issues detailed in our application, or the previously mentioned Best Practice guide for local authorities.
We felt strongly about the validity of our argument, and that our application had been dismissed for the most spurious of reasons. Edinburgh City Private Hire has now made another application for improved signage, and this will be considered by the Licensing sub-committee at their next meeting. To support our application we contacted a number of womens goups and asked for their views as regards private hire signage and its effect of improving public safety. The force of the responses has strengthened our resolve, and were gratifying in that we discovered that we are not just a voice in the wilderness espousing our firm belief that enhancing private hire signage will improve public safety, particularly for vulnerable passengers. For information purposes, I have attached one of these responses, which came from the Edinburgh Women's Rape and Sexual Abuse Centre (part of Rape Crisis Scotland).
We would be grateful if you would consider lending your support to our application for enhanced signage. Their are two attachments to this appeal, one of which puts our case to the Council, while the other is the aforementioned response from the EWRASAC.
Thank you for your attention in this matter.
Allan E. Gibson
Edinburgh City Private Hire Ltd.
