Agenda and minutes

It was moved by Councillor J Cotterill, seconded by Councillor L Massey and

RESOLVED THAT:

Councillor P Hyde 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.

There were no interests declared.

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.

It was noted that the applicant had only recently had sight of the report and supporting information.  The applicant confirmed that he was happy to proceed with the hearing taking into account the information contained within the report.

Report of the Licensing Enforcement Officer

Exempt under Schedule 12A, part 1, paragraph 7

The Licensing Team Leader presented the report which asked Members to determine whether the applicant was a fit and proper person to hold a hackney carriage driver’s licence.

The applicant presented his case.  He stated that all the allegations against him could be explained and he was not at fault.  He outlined one case in particular where the customers did not pay the fare and had complained a few days later.  He could not understand why this was his fault, and most of the complaints were similar to this.

In response to a question from Councillor P Hyde, the applicant confirmed that he had reported incidents to the office 90% of the time.

In response to questions from Members regarding the sexual allegations made against him, his alleged disregard for the licence conditions and for disabled people, the applicant explained to Members what had transpired in each incident.  He added that his driving licence and CRB check were completely clean and he had only been in a police station 3 times in his life, and this was only since he had become a taxi driver.  He commented that some people did not understand the rules, and he tried to explain to them so that the situation would not be repeated for other drivers.  He stated that he had done over 25,000 jobs and he did try to compromise.  He acknowledged that he did make mistakes, and he was sorry for this and would learn from his mistakes.  He stated that he would accept any restriction the Sub Committee wished to impose and would undertake any training they required.

The Licensing Team Leader reiterated that the applicant had received more complaints than any other driver.  He asked the applicant to consider why this might be and what could be causing people to take exception to him.

The applicant accepted that there were too many complaints.  He thought this was due to his attempts to explain the rules to passengers.  He added that he had learned this was a mistake and he did not want to be in this situation.

Mr D Underwood, representing the applicant, addressed the meeting.  He stated that what had been said demonstrated the complexities of the industry, as drivers were very often alone with another person and there would always be two sides of the story.   He added that the incident which had been discussed were not uncommon, and he had seem similar instances with other drivers.  He commented that he was not sure whether it was factual to say that the applicant had received more complaints than any other driver, as he was aware of others who were on a final warning.  He explained that his intention in approaching the Council and discussing the complaints about the applicant with the Licensing Enforcement Officer was to suggest that a warning be given to the applicant about his conduct, as a pattern was emerging.  He added that unfortunately, this did not happen and the applicant’s licence was revoked  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.