Advertising Policy on Licensed Vehicles (Private Hire Car)

Advertising on Licensed Vehicles (Private Hire Car) Policy

The Licensing and Regulatory Committee as Licensing Authority for the City of Glasgow attaches a number of conditions when granting or renewing private hire car licences. Condition (7) states that "no notice, advertisement, printed bill or other thing shall be displayed on the outside or inside of a private hire car, without the prior consent of the Licensing Authority".  In the interests of consistency and clarity, the Licensing and Regulatory Committee considers it appropriate to establish a policy for dealing with applications to vary this particular condition where licensees wish to display advertising material whether inside or outside the licensed vehicle.

Although each case requires to be considered on its own merits, in general, due to legal and security considerations, the Licensing and Regulatory Committee does not favour the display of advertising on the exterior of a private hire car.   So far as applications to display advertising material inside private hire cars is concerned, the procedure to be followed will be as described below.

The following criteria are considered both practical and reasonable:-

All advertising material to be displayed within private hire car requires to be approved by the Licensing Authority.  In terms of the Council's Scheme of Delegated Functions, the Executive Legal Manager (Licensing) or his nominee has delegated authority to grant applications for such material where they conform to this policy.

The Licensing Authority will compile and maintain a register of approved advertising artwork considered suitable for use within licensed vehicles.

Application for approval of such advertising artwork requires to be made by letter stating the name of the Licenceholder and day to day manager as well as the number of vehicles in which the advertisement is to be displayed and their plate numbers and accompanied by two copies of all proposed advertisements in full colour.

No charge will be made in respect of administration at the stage of approval of artwork.

In certain circumstances in addition to approval of the advertising material, applications will require to be made for variation of the licence as follows:

No application for variation of a licence will be required in respect of: advertising to be displayed on the driver's or front passenger's seats or on the headrests of those seats; advertisements to appear on the floor of the vehicle.  In respect of these advertisements, the Council has delegated the required consent in terms of Condition (7) of the private hire car licence to the Executive Legal Manager (Licensing) or his authorised nominee.

All applications require to be made by the licence holder or his/her approved agent.

Any person claiming to act as an agent on behalf of the licence holder, must provide written confirmation of their authority to do so and other than in the case of a solicitor duly authorised to act, the confirmation must be signed by the relevant licence holder.

In general, applications for variation in connection with advertising will only be granted for a one year period from the date of grant.  However grants for longer periods may be given if the period is specified at the date of which application for variation is made.

In general all advertisements must comply with the British Code of Advertising Practice issued by and amended from time to time by the Advertising Standards

Authority i.e.; all advertisements must be legal, decent, honest and truthful.

In general, each application for approval of advertising material will be considered on its own merits but advertisements will not be permitted which advertise or promote the sale of alcohol or tobacco products; nor if they contain political, ethnic, religious, sectarian, sexual or controversial text; display nude or semi-nude figures; or are likely to offend public taste; depict men, women or children as sexual objects; depict direct and immediate violence to anyone shown in the advertisement or observing it; advertise any racist or sectarian group or organisation which intends to promote such a group or such organisation and/or any of its activities.

The licensee remains responsible for the content of any advertisement displayed on or within his vehicle.  It remains the licensee's responsibility to comply with the current law and British Code of Advertising Practice referred to above irrespective of any consent to display the advertisement which may have been given by the Licensing Authority.

It remains the responsibility of the licensee to ensure that none of the advertising material obscures the driver's vision, the vehicle's licence plates, or the name of the licensee or constitutes a danger to passengers or the public where they are displayed on or within the vehicle.

Only one supplier or brand name may be advertised in a private hire car at any time.

Material used for advertisements must be of a quality not easily defaced or detached.  No paper based materials or water soluble adhesive paste may be used.

Interior advertisements must be on non-flammable material.

Front seat or head rest advertising should fit closely to the size and shape of the seat or head rest to which they are attached and in any event must not obscure the driver's vision nor restrict or interfere with the passengers' entry or exit to or from the vehicle.

Advertisements will be checked at the annual and six month inspections of the vehicle but if a licensee wishes to materially change or amend an advertisement during the course of the year further notification will require to be given to the Licensing Authority in the manner prescribed above.