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 applicant was a fit a proper person to hold a licence.

There were no questions for the Licensing Enforcement Officer.

The applicant presented his case and made the following points:

- He had not hidden anything and had declared all during his interview with the Licensing Enforcement Officer.

- He had not declared the conviction he received in May 1999 on his application form as it was over 10 years old and he had not realised he needed to.

- He had applied to take the DSA test.

- His Private Hire Licence had recently been renewed by Nottingham City Council.

- He had applied to Gedling Borough Council who were happy to offer him a licence but he decided not continue with it.

- He had been driving a taxi for 14 years without any problems.

The applicant briefly explained what had occurred during the incident in September 2009 as detailed within the report.

The Licensing Enforcement Officer asked the applicant if he had taken the DSA test. He responded that he had taken the test and failed, he stated that another test had been applied for.

In response from a number of questions from Members, the applicant stated the following:

- The reason the question regarding whether he had been refused a licence before had not been answered on his application form was because he had missed it. He apologised and explained that he had been refused by Gedling Borough Council in the past as they wanted to wait for the outcome of a court case. Once he had informed Officers of the outcome they told him he could re-apply.

- He had genuinely missed the question on the application form, it was not an attempt to hide the fact he had been refused a licence in the past. He stated that he had discussed the refusal with the Licensing Enforcement Officer during the interview. The Licensing Enforcement Officer confirmed that they had discussed the past refusal.

- He only worked for Checker Cars for a few months as he was not happy with the way the firm operated regarding his working hours.

- He explained what had happened during the incident that occurred in May 1999. He stated that he had not been involved in any of the fighting but as he was with the group of people involved he had been arrested.

There was considerable discussion regarding the incident in September 2009 and the fact it had invalidated the applicant's insurance. During the discussion, the applicant stated the following:

- He believed that the gentlemen that got into his taxi were in a rush due to an emergency, this was the reason he agreed to pick them up.

- As he felt it was an emergency situation, he was not planning on charging a fare even though it was approximately a 5 mile journey.

- He would not have picked the gentleman up if he was aware they were undercover policemen.

- He confirmed that he understood that his insurance would be invalid if he picked up the gentleman from the street.

The Legal Advisor went through the applicant's insurance certificate at the time of the incident to clarify the breaches made. The applicant accepted that he was aware he had committed a traffic offence at the time of the incident.

The Licensing Enforcement Officer declined the opportunity to give any closing remarks. The applicant gave brief closing remarks reiterating points raised earlier in the meeting.

The Sub Committee adjourned for consideration at 7.26pm and reconvened at 7.57pm.