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Meeting documentation

Meeting documents

Taxi and Private Hire Sub Committee
Monday, 24th August, 2009 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 P Holland take the Chair for the meeting.
2 APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE
There were no apologies for absence.
  
3 DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST
There were no declarations of interests.
  
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 Enforcement Officer presented the report which asked
Members to determine whether the licence holder was still a fit and proper person to hold a licence.

In response to a question from a Member, the Licensing Enforcement Officer stated that a private hire vehicle remains licensed as a private hire vehicle even when being used privately, therefore the driver of the vehicle has to be a licensed driver.

In response to another question from a Member, the Licensing Enforcement Officer stated that she would not grant a licence to an applicant that had a conviction such as that detailed within the report.

The licence holder presented his case. He stated that he had been a taxi driver for the past 12 years and had not received any complaints, he went on to explain what had happened the night he committed the offence. He stated that he had been out in a private hire taxi that did not have any plates on display and was plying for hire when he was pulled over by police. He stated that he held a joint hackney and private hire driver's licence with Nottingham City Council and circulated his badge to Members.

For the purposes of clarity, the Legal Advisor explained that even though the licence holder had a joint licence, it was still an offence to ply for hire in a private hire vehicle, plus it made his insurance void.

In response to a question from a Member, the licence holder stated that he had notified Nottingham City Council of the conviction but had not yet heard how it was going to be dealt with.

In response to another question from a Member, the licence holder stated that when the offence was committed he was not working for an operator; he had taken the car out on his own without a radio to earn some additional money.

The Licensing Enforcement Officer did not wish to make any closing remarks.

The licence holder, making his closing remarks, apologised for his behaviour and for the conviction, and stated he would not do it again.

At 7.30pm the Sub Committee adjourned to consider its decision. The meeting reconvened at 8.10pm.
  • (Attachment: 1)Report of the Licensing Enforcement Officer
 RESOLVED THAT:

The private hire driver's licence be revoked with immediate effect.

Following the announcement of the decision, the Licensing Enforcement Officer recommended that the licence be suspended immediately to prevent the licence holder from driving during the appeal process. The Sub-Committee considered the recommendation and took the view that if full details had been submitted to the Licensing Enforcement Officer during the application process, the licence would have been refused and the question of driving during the appeal period would not never have arisen. In agreeing with the Licensing Enforcment Officers recommendation Members felt that the licence holder should take no benefit should be taken from the failure to provide full details and that it was in the interest of public safety that the licence be revoked immediately.
Published on Wednesday, 2nd September, 2009
The meeting commenced at 7pm and closed at 8.15pm.

Attendance Details

Present:
Councillors P Holland, P Purver and N Smith

Officers: Mr D Gill, Miss E McHugh and Miss R Levy

The license holder was in attendance.