Meeting documents

Taxi and Private Hire Sub Committee
Monday, 26th October, 2009 6.30 pm

Item	Description	Resolution
Declaration of interests - members are reminded that following the adoption by Council of the new Code of Conduct, any declaration of interest should be made having regard to the new code. In particular, members must make clear the nature of the interest and whether it is 'personal' or 'prejudicial'. The Monitoring Officer would like to remind members that when they are considering whether the following items are exempt information under the relevant paragraph under part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972 they must have regard to the public interest test. This means that members must consider, for each item, whether the public interest in maintaining the exemption from disclosure outweighs the public interest in making the item available to the public.
1	ELECTION OF CHAIRMAN	RESOLVED THAT: Councillor N Smith take the Chair for the meeting.
2	APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE There were no apologies for absence.
3	DECLARATION OF INTERESTS There were no declarations of interest.
4	EXCLUSION OF PRESS AND PUBLIC	RESOLVED THAT: In pursuance of Section 100A (4) of the Local Government Act, 1972, the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following business on the grounds that it involved the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph 7 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Act, and in the circumstances of the matter under consideration, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighed the public interest in disclosing the information.
The officers consider that the press and public should be excluded during consideration of the following items in accordance with Section 100(a) of the Local Government Act 1972 as publicity would be likely to result in disclosure of exempt or confidential information.
5	CONSIDERATION OF A PRIVATE HIRE DRIVER'S LICENCE The Licensing Team Leader presented the report which asked members to determine whether the licence holder was still a fit a proper person to hold a licence. In response to a question from the licence holder, the Legal Advisor clarified why the convictions he had received were displayed on his driving licence in a particular way. In response to a question from a Member, the Licensing Team Leader stated that whilst notification of a conviction must be given in writing, it was not necessary to produce the driving licence at the same time. The licence holder presented his case. He apologised for not notifying the Officers sooner with regards to his conviction and penalties. With regards to the most recent offence, he explained that had waited for his licence to be returned before notifying the Officers as he was not sure what had been imposed. He assured Members that he did not speed regularly but explained that because he drove a large number of miles often in the early hours of the morning he was more likely to be caught speeding. The Licensing Team Leader referred the Members to appendices 6 and 13 within the agenda papers. He explained that appendix 13 indicated that the licence holder had received a penalty on his licence in April 2008 and even though he received a letter in May 2008 as detailed at appendix 6, he had still not notified the Officer of the latest penalty. The Licensing Team Leader asked if the licence holder had received the letter. He responded that he had received the letter. The Licensing Team Leader asked the licence holder what speed he was driving at when he was given a £100 fine as this sum indicated it was considerably over the speed limit. The licence holder stated that he was driving at 88 mph in a 70 mph speed zone. The Legal Advisor confirmed that the higher the speeding offence the higher the fine usually was, and the less likely it was that the matter would be dealt with by a fixed penalty notice. He was unsure of the exact guidance. In response to a request from a Member he agreed to acquire the guidance so that it can be used for future meetings. A Member asked the licence holder if he understood the highway code, as when questioned about one of the speeding offences the licence holder had stated that he had not seen a speed limit sign on a national speed limit road. The Member was concerned as there were no speed limits signs on roads that had a national speed limit. The licence holder stated that he did understand the highway code. A Member asked if the licence holder had read the conditions of licence document that he would have signed and returned to the Officers as detailed at appendix 5. The licence holder stated that he would have read it at the time of receipt. The licence holder stressed that he did not drive around the district at high speed all the time as it seemed in the report. He explained that he was not proud of his past record and was aware that his job was at risk because of it. In response to questions from the Licensing Team Leader and the Legal Advisor, the licence holder confirmed that his current licence was up to date, he had no further penalties and there were no matters outstanding. The Licensing Team Leader gave brief closing remarks and stated that as part of his job he was responsible for the safety of the public and that he would like all licensed drivers to be fit and proper drivers. The licence holder gave brief closing remarks and stated that he was not proud of his past driving record. The Sub Committee adjourned for consideration at 7.05pm and reconvened at 7.54pm. (Attachment: 1)Report of the Licensing Enforcement Officer	RESOLVED THAT: The Private Hire Driver's Licence be suspended for a period of six months with immediate effect.

Published on Monday, 2nd November, 2009

The meeting closed at 8.00pm.

Attendance Details

Present:

Councillors P Holland, N Smith and R Woodward

Officers: Mr S Eyre, Mr D Gill and Miss R Levy

The licence holder was in attendance.