Agenda and minutes

It was moved by Councillor T Eynon, seconded by Councillor K Merrie and

RESOLVED THAT:

Councillor G A Allman take the chair for the remainder of the meeting.

No apologies for absence were received.

Under the Code of Conduct members are reminded that in declaring disclosable interests you should make clear the nature of that interest and whether it is pecuniary or non-pecuniary.

Councillor T Eynon declared a disclosable non-pecuniary interest in item 10 – Application for a Hackney Carriage Driver’s Licence, as an acquaintance of one of the complainants, however they had never discussed the matter.

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.

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.

Report of the Licensing Enforcement Officer

Exempt under Schedule 12A, part 1, paragraph 7

The Licensing Enforcement Officer presented the report which asked Members to determine whether the hackney carriage driver’s licence should be granted.

Following questions from Members, the Licensing Enforcement Officer advised that:-

-       The applicant had not attended the one to one training, however it was not compulsory, but he could attend at a later date if he wished to.

-       The authority advised the applicant on which course to attend.

-       He was unaware if any other driver had ever received that number of complaints.

-       As there had been a number of different officers over the period he was unable to advise why the applicant had not had his licence reviewed earlier.

-       There was no evidence that the courses that had been attended were beneficial.

-       CCTV could be used in the car to provide evidence of any incidents that could take place however there would be no sound.

-       The authority was not aware that the applicant had applied for a licence with any other authority.

The applicant had no questions for the Licensing Officer.

The applicant presented his case. He stated that he had held a licence for five years and that he had completed over twenty thousand jobs during that time. He advised Members that he had discussed any overcharging complaints with Mr Underwood at the time and he was satisfied that he had not overcharged and added that when the customers had complained about the fares he had stood up for himself as it was his living. He informed Members that he had attended the training as requested, tried to better himself and re-applied as he thought that was all he needed to do, although he understood that it would need to come back to committee. He highlighted that he had worked in a local hotel as a night porter for five years prior to applying for the first time and had never had any complaints made against him, that his driving licence was clean and that he would do whatever it took, including future training and advice, to look after his family.

In response to questions from Councillor T Eynon about two of the more serious complaints the applicant explained what had transpired in the incidents in his view and then stated to the Committee that in the future he would consider having CCTV installed in the car and that if any customer was to challenge the fare he would let it go rather than standing up for the money he was owed.

In response to questions from Councillor K Merrie the applicant advised the Committee that he had only found out a couple of days previously about the one to one and on-line training as he had been given the impression that once he had attended the course and had received the certificate he had done all he had needed to do.

The applicant answered questions from Councillor G A Allman about the difference between private hire and hackney carriage licences, and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.