Plans for mandatory CCTV in Swindon's taxis postponed
It's likely we wont see mandatory CCTV in taxis until early 2024
A policy of making CCTV in all taxis in Swindon mandatory – which the council says is desirable to keep both passengers and drivers safe – has been put back by at least a year.
Swindon Borough Council’s licensing team has been consulting with drivers of both hackney and private hire vehicles over its plan to mandate tv and recording in all licensed taxis in the town for nearly two years.
It had hoped to get approval for the policy so that new vehicles had cameras installed by the start of next year and all cabs had them by April 1.
But resignations and the state of the council’s finances mean that that date has had to be put back, and progress on the policy shelved.
A report to the council’s licensing committee says: “In recent weeks, three licensing officers have resigned from the council -this equates to 2.6 full-time equivalents from a total of 3.6 full-time equivalents.
“Due to the council’s current financial situation, the service has the approval to recruit two full-time officers and this recruitment is in progress.
“It means that there is currently insufficient resource available to progress the delivery of CCTV in taxis at this time. It is hoped that the council’s financial position will improve, but for the time being the implementation timetable has been adjusted to reflect this situation.”
The report says now the council hopes that new taxis will have CCTV by January 1 2024 and all vehicles by April.