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Grass-cutting on council properties | Due to wet conditions of the grass, we may not be able to cut all of the grass areas of our council properties at this current time; this includes our parks, open spaces and play areas. Our team are surveying the sites and as soon as the areas are dry enough, our team will be grass-cutting as usual. Sorry for any inconvenience caused. 

Meeting documentation

Meeting documents

Taxi and Private Hire Sub Committee
Thursday, 16th October, 2008 6.30 pm

ItemDescriptionResolution
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 DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST
There were no interests declared.
  
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 APPLICATION FOR A PRIVATE HIRE DRIVER'S LICENCE
The Licensing Enforcement Officer presented the report which asked
Members to determine an application to grant a private hire driver's licence. Background information to the application was given.

There were no questions to the Licensing Enforcement Officer from the applicant or Members.

The applicant presented his case. He gave sincere apologies for not having written to inform the Council of the penalty points he had received. He explained that he had forgotten to do so on the first occasion, and on the second occasion had telephoned the offices. He reported that he later came in to the offices, however no one was available to see him as he was unaware of the need to make an appointment. He stated that he was dyslexic and was ashamed of his handwriting.

The applicant explained that the most recent penalty points were received when he was driving in a 30 mph speed limit which he had thought was a 40 mph speed limit.

The applicant explained that he had attended a Taxi Forum meeting at the Council in March, and following this meeting had decided to undertake the DSA's Private Hire Driving Test. He reported that he had passed the test on 29 September 2008. He also stated that he would undertake a refresher course every 6 months to ensure his driving was up to the required standard.

A copy of the test certificate and a reference from the applicant's manager were circulated.

In response to a question, the applicant stated he was driving at 39 mph when he received the penalty points and was using cruise control to ensure he did not exceed 40 mph.

In response to a question, the applicant advised that this was not his first position as a taxi driver and he had been driving taxis for 10 years. All the penalty points had been incurred whilst driving a taxi.

In response to questions, the applicant stated that he felt his driving had deteriorated. He advised that his driving had improved considerably in undertaking tuition, and he could not have passed the DSA's Private Hire Driving Test if this were not the case.

The applicant and the Licensing Enforcement Officer declined to give closing statements.

At 7.02pm the Sub Committee adjourned to consider its decision. The meeting reconvened at 7.31pm.


  • (Attachment: 1)Report of the Licensing Enforcement Officer
 RESOLVED THAT:

The private hire driver's licence be permitted to continue to its expiry date of 31 July 2009 and the file be endorsed to show a formal warning in relation to the standard of driving of the applicant and failure to comply with the conditions of the licence.

Any future breach of the conditions of the licence would result in the applicant's licence being suspended with immediate effect by the Licensing Enforcement Officers.
Published on Friday, 17th October, 2008
The meeting closed at 7.38pm.

Attendance Details

Present:
Councillors C Bowley, P Holland and N Smith.

Officers: Mr S Eyre, Mr D Gill and Miss M Terry.

Applicant in attendance.