Meeting documents

There were no apologies for absence.

There were no declarations of interest.

The Licensing Enforcement Officer presented the report which asked members to determine whether the licence holder was still a fit a proper person to hold a licence and highlighted the options available to members.

The Licence Holder questioned the accuracy of the report relating to a previous incident a number of years ago. The person involved was not the Chairman at the time.

In response to a question from a Member, the Licensing Enforcement Officer stated with regard to Private Hire drivers they can charge waiting time with the agreement of the passenger. If complaints are received then a warning letter would be sent. If this became an ongoing offence then the matter would be reported to this Panel.

In response to a question from a Member, the Licensing Enforcement Officer stated that the only evidence she had about the £18 waiting charge was following a conversation with the Chairman of the company and notes of a committee meeting.

In response to a question from a Member, the Licensing Enforcement Officer stated that she had only received 3 witness statements from the Police. The Licence Holder's statement was from an interview taken by the Council.

The Legal Advisor stated that the Police would have carried out a taped Interview under Caution and they would not normally release a copy of the transcript.

In response to a question from a Member, the Licensing Enforcement Officer stated that it was her Team Leader who interviewed the Licence Holder and at the time he didn't seem to come across as aggressive, but in the similar situation he might have. Rather than put a customer at risk a decision was made to suspend the Licence.

The licence holder presented his case. He explained that he had been under a lot of stress both personally and at work. He explained his medical background and stated that he had recently started taking medication.

The Licence Holder explained that at the time of the incident he had reached breaking point and deeply regretted what he had done. He was not a violent person and he hadn't thought he would ever be in this position.

The Legal Advisor explained that the licence holder had submitted some additional information for consideration at the start of the meeting. The committee agreed to accept the additional information.

In response to a question from the Legal Advisor, the Licence Holder stated that he had resigned from his voluntary position with the Ministry of Justice on the 24 August 2011 due to the stress he was under and therefore had not informed them of the Caution.

In response to a question from a Member, the Licence Holder stated that he was able to do the voluntary work prior to his personal problems.

In response to questions from the Licensing Enforcement Officer, the applicant stated the following:

- He had read through the statements and didn't agree with their accounts of the incident
- He didn't think he was a Jekyll & Hyde character.
- He wouldn't respond in an aggressive way when dealing with a customer over waiting charges, etc. With regard to the £18 waiting charge this was agreed by the customer at the time, but they complained to the company afterwards.

In response to a question from the Legal Advisor, the applicant stated that the stress of the work situation had been building up and on the day of the incident he snapped. It was something that had never happened in his life before and hopefully wouldn't happen again.

In response to a question from a Member, the Licence Holder gave the Panel an overview of the company.

In response to questions from a Member, the Licence Holder explained that at the moment he was on the sick and receiving counselling. He wanted to continue driving once he got better, as he had done this for many years and enjoyed the work.

In response to a question from a Member, the Licence Holder explained the reasons why he had not mentioned the work issues to other colleagues.

In response to a question from a Member, the Licence Holder confirmed that prior to him receiving the Caution, the Police explained to him in "black and white" that he was accepting that he was guilty.

The Licence Holder's representative gave a statement of the Licence Holder's character.

The Licensing Enforcement Officer did not wish to give a closing statement.

The applicant gave a brief closing statement reiterating points raised earlier in the meeting. He was deeply sorry that the incident had happened and he relives it every day.

The Legal Advisor provided the committee with advice on the options that were before them and issues that were to be considered when reaching its decision.

At 7.45pm the Sub Committee adjourned to consider its decision. The meeting reconvened at 8.37pm.