Agenda and minutes

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Contact: Mark Durnford  01225 394458

Items
No. Item

30.

WELCOME & INTRODUCTIONS

Minutes:

The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting and introduced the other members of the Sub-Committee and the officers who were present.

31.

APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE AND SUBSTITUTIONS

Minutes:

There were none.

32.

DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

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

(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 2, A and 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 Officeror a member of his staff before the meeting to expedite dealing with the item during the meeting.

Minutes:

Councillor Steve Hedges said that he recognised the name of one of the driver’s representatives and said that there had been no predetermination and the matter would be dealt with on its merits.

 

Councillor Manda Rigby said that she too recognised the name of one of the driver’s representatives and said that there had been no predetermination and the matter would be dealt with on its merits.

33.

TO ANNOUNCE ANY URGENT BUSINESS AGREED BY THE CHAIR

Minutes:

There was none.

34.

MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETING - 15TH OCTOBER 2020 pdf icon PDF 132 KB

Minutes:

The Sub-Committee approved the minutes of 15th October 2020 as a correct record.

 

35.

TAXI PROCEDURE pdf icon PDF 82 KB

The Chair will, if required, explain the licensing procedure.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Chair explained the procedure for the meeting.

36.

EXCLUSION OF THE PUBLIC

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.   

Minutes:

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. They  RESOLVED that the public should 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.

37.

Consideration of Fit and Proper - 1900924TAXI pdf icon PDF 126 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Lead Licensing Officer presented the report to the Sub-Committee. He explained that the report invited the Members to consider whether the driver before them remains fit and proper to hold a combined Hackney Carriage/Private Hire Drivers licence issued by the authority.

 

He stated that the Sub-Committee is asked to consider the matter, determine the issue and take any action it may consider suitable after hearing any representation from the driver or any representative acting on his behalf.

 

He explained that the driver had failed on three consecutive occasions to comply with the following condition attached to the grant of Hackney Carriage Proprietors Licence which states;

 

The proprietor shall produce to the Licensing Section a new insurance certificate or cover note within seven working days of the expiry of the current certificate or cover note.”

 

The driver stated that he had not received a written warning in May 2018 regarding the first breach of this condition. He said that he recalled being issued with penalty points in 2019 and that this year he had not been able to access the Licensing offices due to Covid-19 and that nobody had answered is phone calls. He apologised for the incidents in 2018 / 19.

 

The driver’s representative addressed the Sub-Committee. He said that the driver was normally diligent, had acknowledged his mistakes and had tried to visit the offices on three separate occasions.

 

He said that the driver was not confident to send the required documents in via email and that no complaints had ever been made against him by the public.

 

Councillor Steve Hedges commented that he had seen in the agenda pack the letter referred to from May 2018 and asked if the letter had been sent but not received.

 

The Lead Licensing Officer replied that the procedure is to print off the letter and hand it to the driver along with a verbal warning. He added that this took place in both 2018 and 2019. He said, referring to this year, that the insurance renewal date was prior to the national lockdown being in place and therefore the driver had enough time to present his documents.

 

The Chair said that there was no accusation of the driver’s vehicle not being insured and asked if he was aware of the need to comply with the rules so that the Council and the Sub-Committee were satisfied that the residents of B&NES could travel safely in his vehicle.

 

The driver replied that he was.

 

In his closing statement the driver’s representative stated that he had known the driver for ten years and that he was great with the public, but not so great with his admin. He said that he felt sure that this would not happen again and would encourage the driver to ask someone to email his documents to the Council on his behalf.

 

The driver said that he would not let an incident of this nature happen again.

 

The Lead Licensing Officer acknowledged that no complaints  ...  view the full minutes text for item 37.

38.

Consideration of Fit and Proper - 19/01848/TAXI pdf icon PDF 126 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Lead Licensing Officer presented the report to the Sub-Committee. He explained that the report invited the Members to consider whether the driver before them remains fit and proper to hold a combined Hackney Carriage/Private Hire Drivers licence issued by the authority.

 

He stated that the Sub-Committee is asked to consider the matter, determine the issue and take any action it may consider suitable after hearing any representation from the driver or any representative acting on his behalf.

 

The Licensing Sub-Committee is asked to consider two complaints of

inappropriate contact with females and 3 complaints of inappropriate comments

of a racist nature.

 

One of the complainants addressed the Sub-Committee. She said that it was difficult to hear that her incident was not the first time the driver had been alleged to have been racist. She described her incident as really abhorrent and that it had had a huge impact on her.

 

She stated that she was shocked that he was able to use ‘that word’ so comfortably and that she retained her composure until leaving the car. She said that she felt that this action alone should be enough for the driver to have his licence taken away.

 

She said that neither she nor her partner had been aggressive or confrontational in any way towards the driver.

 

She commented that she was unsure of what would have happened if she had been travelling alone and that she was worried about the driver’s future conduct.

 

The other complainant confirmed that it had been a difficult journey and that he was not surprised to hear that other complaints had been made against the driver.

 

He agreed that he also was worried about the driver’s future conduct and said that it was dreadful to think that he is allowed carry out this role to the public.

 

Councillor Steve Hedges asked the complainant how vulnerable, on a scale of 1-10, she would have felt if she was travelling alone.

 

The complainant replied that she thought it would be around an 8.

 

The Chair asked who instigated the conversation on the journey and at what point did she become uncomfortable.

 

The complainant replied that she and her partner were quite quiet in the car and that the conversation was started by the driver. She said that it began when he referred to the pulling down of the Colston statue. The complainant stated that she had been at the protests but was not near the statue when it came down.

 

The complainant said that the conversation then became more personal when the driver asked if she had ever experienced racism. She said that she replied that she had lived in the West Country for three years and had experienced a number of racist incidents. 

 

The driver said that he had not directly been racist towards the complainant and apologised as his use of that word was not meant in that way. He added that he had no questions for the complainants.

 

The driver addressed the Sub-Committee.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 38.