Private hire requirements

Khenny17

Khenny17

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Scotland
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I need help finding a dash cam for my uber. I had one all sorted until the licensing authority declared it wouldn't meet their requirements. It must have NO screen or display viewable or able to become viewable with the push of a button. Trying to find one isn't as easy as I thought and few searches come up with much choice. Any help would be greatly appreciated. No problem spending up to £200+ for the right model/specs. I also need a stand alone back-up (reversing) cam if you guys have any ideas on that also.
 
Strange requirement, how come some licensing authority can regulate what you have in your car?

Normally we hide the screen behind the rear view mirror so that it is not viewable to the driver while driving, thus making it legal.

Dashcams with no screen do exist, eg: Blueskysea B1W
 
Each authority can make it's own regulations. Pretty annoying in this case as it cuts down mahoosively on the choice available.
 
I am not aware of any "uber / taxi" camera that don't have a screen, sound strange that "NO screen or display viewable or able to become viewable with the push of a button "
While we Danes do have a law against video or TV footage going on a screen the driver can see ( for good reasons ) then NAV screens are of course okay and as are large headunit screens though they can playback video and often have a TV tuner that could come live with a push of a button.
I don't think we have anything special for dashcams that admittedly are a "video" feed for the duration the screen are on ( variable shut down time normally in dashcams ) but it will of course come on with a push of any button.
We Danes have licensing for Taxi drivers, but nothing for things like Uber and so on, and hence those services cant operate legally here, but while some / many taxis have CCTV i am not aware of anything like your screen "issue"
The Taxis here normally use expensive PRO systems with no screen or option for driver to interact with it, but i have seen several driving instructors having consumer grade dashcams in their cars.
For the forward facing view you can find a camera with no screen, but for the cabin side ( which i find just as important as a forward facing camera in a taxi / uber ) you don't find any single or dual channel cameras without a screen, and not least IR light to aid the cabin camera at night as the car cabin are normally too dark for a unaided camera to be usable.

Sound like the Scots ( too ) have lost some of the good old skull braking claymore swinging spirit.
 
Khenny17 said:
Each authority can make it's own regulations. Pretty annoying in this case as it cuts down mahoosively on the choice available.
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Is this actually a dashcam, or is it a CCTV camera for recording the passengers?

Don't think they should be regulating the dashcam since it should be considered part of the vehicle, you might have to rule out some vehicles that have dashcam functionality with screen built it! If you are recording the passengers then it is reasonable for them to have rules, and of course you need to comply with the Data Protection laws anyway and register its use.
 
According to the Cab Office it's front facing dash cams that must have no screen. Recording inside the Cab can be fine but no audio is allowed.
 
you can get Blackvue front facing without screen and they make an internal camera with IR that works for the second channel, they record audio by default so you'd have to disable that
 
Yeah one of the blackvuw models with the IR aided "uber" rear camera will probably be the best option for a integrated system.
Audio you can disable in the APP that let you do settings and so on the camera.
 
Khenny17 said:
According to the Cab Office it's front facing dash cams that must have no screen. Recording inside the Cab can be fine but no audio is allowed.
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I would have thought that audio should be mandatory, you are not going to be able to understand an argument if you don't have the sound so in any dispute you should be able to produce the audio otherwise the passenger should win by default!
 
It is what it is and they have their rules but I really only need suggestions for the make/model of cam you guys feel would be best. As many suggestions as possible would be great.
 
Nigel said:
I would have thought that audio should be mandatory, you are not going to be able to understand an argument if you don't have the sound so in any dispute you should be able to produce the audio otherwise the passenger should win by default!
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they would be concerned with passenger privacy, not whether or not you can win an argument
 
jokiin said:
they would be concerned with passenger privacy, not whether or not you can win an argument
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Passenger privacy is protected by our data protection and privacy laws. No need for the taxi/private hire licensing authorities to also get involved in that, they should be concerned with passenger protection, and being able to retrieve an audio recording if necessary is good for passenger protection.
 
Nigel said:
Passenger privacy is protected by our data protection and privacy laws. No need for the taxi/private hire licensing authorities to also get involved in that, they should be concerned with passenger protection, and being able to retrieve an audio recording if necessary is good for passenger protection.
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you should open your own taxi company then and show them how it's done ;)
 
Khenny17 said:
It is what it is and they have their rules but I really only need suggestions for the make/model of cam you guys feel would be best. As many suggestions as possible would be great.
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I've only used two without screens, the aforementioned B1W and the Gitup F1. As you don't need audio the B1W is a good choice.
 
jokiin said:
you should open your own taxi company then and show them how it's done ;)
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I would need a licence to do that, so would need to comply with their rules not mine! Although we probably have different rules here.
 
The IR part is the wrinkle.

What if you got the normal Vantrue N2 Pro, and just taped over the screen? (Black tape, or something....Velcro flap?)

Maybe a mobius Maxi for the front facing cam?

Are there any small dashcams with decent IR recording, (Single lens) to pair with a mobius or b1w?
 
Ok, being in the US, I had to google and Czech it out.
:rolleyes:

I was just wondering if limo or van sized. Some combination of cams will probably work for you.
 
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