Meeting documentation

Meeting documents

Taxi and Private Hire Sub Committee
Monday, 8th October, 2012 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 APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE
There were no apologies for absence.
 
2 DECLARATION OF INTERESTS
There were no declarations of interest.
 
3 EXCLUSION OF PRESS AND PUBLIC
RESOLVED:

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.
4 RENEWAL OF A PRIVATE HIRE DRIVER'S LICENCE
The Licensing Enforcement Officer presented the report which asked members to determine whether the applicant was a fit and proper person to hold a Private Hire driver's licence. She gave background details and highlighted the options available to members.

In response to a question from a Member, the Licensing Enforcement Officer reported that the applicant had not yet received his court appearance date.

The applicant presented his case. He stated that he had been driving for 30 years and had never intentionally driven over the speed limit. He explained that the recent incident involved being caught speeding twice in 25 minutes as he was unsure of the speed limit on the dual carriageway. He informed Members that since the incident he had gained driving advice from a professional driver and the tips received had improved his driving and fuel consumption which in turn has saved him money. This had been recorded in the last 13 weeks on a spreadsheet. The applicant apologised and stated that if he was not successful in renewing his licence he would have to declare himself bankrupt as he would be unable to support his family.

In response to questions from Members, the applicant stated the following:

- The professional driver he obtained advice from was an ex police officer.

- He did not know when the court date was likely to be.

- He had not deliberately withheld from the Council information regarding his driving offences, he believed the company he worked for at the time would report it. Regarding the most recent driving offences he had forgotten to inform the Council.

The Licensing Enforcement Officer gave clarification to the Members on the number of points currently on the applicant's driving licence.

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

The applicant made a brief closing statement reiterating points made earlier in the hearing.

At 6.50pm the Sub Committee adjourned to consider its decision.


During deliberation, the applicant offered Members an opportunity to see the spreadsheet he had referred to in the meeting. Members agreed to take it into consideration.

The meeting reconvened at 7.10pm.

  • (Attachment: 1)Report of the Licensing Enforcement Officer
  • (Attachment: 2)Spreadsheet submitted by the applicant during the meeting
RESOLVED THAT:

The application to renew a Private Hire Driver's Licence be refused for the following reasons:

a) The applicant had consistently failed to comply with the Conditions attached to his licence which required him to notify the District Council of any conviction (motoring or otherwise) within 7 days, on four separate occasions despite having been issued with a warning letter for breaching this condition in September 2009.

b) The applicant had effectively ignored the previous warning that was issued and continued to offend in terms of speeding on a regular basis.

c) The applicant had admitted that he was not aware of the speed limit; this showed a lack of concentration and a lack of care as a professional driver

d) The applicant's standard of driving fell below that expected by the licensing Authority.

The applicant was advised of his right of appeal.
Published on Wednesday, 10th October, 2012
The meeting closed at 7.15pm.

Attendance Details

Present:
Councillors L Massey, N Smith and M Specht.

Officers: Miss C Catherall, Mr D Gill, Miss E McHugh and Mrs R Wallace.

The applicant was in attendance with previous current employer.