Agenda and draft minutes

The Democratic Services Officer drew attention to the Emergency Evacuation Procedure.

There were none.

At this point in the meeting declarations of interest are received from Members in any of the agenda items under consideration at the meeting.

(a) The agenda item number in which they have an interest to declare.

(b) The nature of their interest.

(c) Whether their interest is a disclosable pecuniary interest or an other interest (as defined in Part 4.4 Appendix B of the Code of Conduct and Rules for Registration of Interests).

Any Member who needs to clarify any matters relating to the declaration of interests is recommended to seek advice from the Council’s Monitoring Officer or a member of his staff before the meeting to expedite dealing with the item during the meeting.

There were none.

There was none.

The Sub-Committee RESOLVED to approve the minutes of the meeting held on 27th June 2024.

The Chair referenced the procedure that would be followed during the course of the meeting.

Those that were present confirmed that they had received and understood the licensing procedure.

The Sub-Committee is asked to consider passing the following resolution:

“the Sub-Committee having been satisfied that the public interest would be better served by not disclosing relevant information, in accordance with the provisions of Section 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, RESOLVES that the public shall be excluded from the meeting for the following item(s) of business and the reporting of the meeting be prevented under Section 100A(5A), because of the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraphs 1 and 2 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act, as amended.   

The members of the Sub-Committee agreed that they were satisfied that the public interest would be better served by not disclosing relevant information, in accordance with the provisions of Section 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972.

It was RESOLVED that the public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business and the reporting of the meeting be prevented under Section 100A(5A), because of the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraphs 1 and 2 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act, as amended.

The Public Protection Officer (Licensing) introduced the report to the Sub- Committee. She stated that they were being asked to determine whether a licensee remains fit and proper to hold their combined Hackney Carriage/Private Hire Driver’s licence. There was an update to the report to confirm that the licensee was first licensed from 11^th December 2009.

The licensee was asked by the Chair to address them on the matters raised within the report and why he felt that he remained fit and proper to hold his licence.

The licensee handed out a prepared written statement in which he stated that he accepted responsibility for failing to produce the correct documentation within the set time periods and that he was sorry for this.

Councillor Toby Simon referred to an incident from 2015 and asked the licensee if he had learned from this.

The licensee replied that he had learnt from it and stated that no further incidents regarding his conduct had been received since.

The Chair stated the importance of having all the required paperwork in place and the need to abide by the conditions of his licence. He asked the licensee why he had not met the previous deadlines and how would he be able to guarantee that these conditions were met in the future.

The licensee replied that the second warning had been received during the Covid pandemic while he had been in Pakistan and that the third warning was received while he was going through some personal difficulties. He added that he had now put the relevant dates into his Google apps and had set-up reminders for them.

The Lead Officer (Licensing) addressed the Sub-Committee and informed them that the second warning had been given to the licensee in May 2019 before the pandemic had begun. He added that this written warning had been handed to the licensee in person and that a verbal warning was also given.

The licensee made a summing up statement to the Sub-Committee in which he apologised once more and assured them that this would not happen again.

Decision & Reasons

Members have had to consider whether or not the Licensee is a fit and proper person to continue to hold his combined Hackney Carriage/Private Hire Driver’s licence in the light of failures to comply with the conditions of his Hackney Carriage Vehicle Licence relating to insurance and MOT certificates. In doing so Members took account of the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976, Human Rights Act 1998, case law and the Council Policy.

The Licensee was supported at the Sub-Committee by a personal representative and an interpreter. The Licensee handed up a written statement in support that he had prepared for the Sub-Committee. In that statement the Licensee admitted that everything he had been accused of was correct and he was very sorry for what he had done. He did not want to offer any excuses for his wrongdoing as he did not want to insult the committee. He accepted any action  ...  view the full minutes text for item 24.