Agenda and minutes

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Contact: Mark Durnford  01225 394458

Items
No. Item

46.

EMERGENCY EVACUATION PROCEDURE

The Chair will draw attention to the emergency evacuation procedure as set out under Note 5 on the previous page.

Minutes:

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

47.

APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE AND SUBSTITUTIONS

Minutes:

There were no apologies for absence or substitutions.

48.

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:

There were no declarations of interest.

49.

TO ANNOUNCE ANY URGENT BUSINESS AGREED BY THE CHAIR

Minutes:

There was no urgent business.

50.

MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETING: 27th July 2022 pdf icon PDF 876 KB

Minutes:

RESOLVED that the minutes be confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

51.

LICENSING PROCEDURE pdf icon PDF 166 KB

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

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Chair outlined the procedure for the meeting which had been circulated to all parties in advance of the meeting.  He asked whether the licence holders who were present at the meeting to make representations understood the procedure and they confirmed that they did.

52.

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.

 

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.

 

53.

Consideration of Fit and Proper - 2200499TAXI pdf icon PDF 130 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Lead Officer - Licensing presented the report to the Sub-Committee. He advised Members to consider the matter, determine the issue and take any action they may consider suitable after hearing the representation from the licensee.

The licensee outlined her case as follows:

1.  She had held a licence for nearly 30 years without any complaints.

2.  She had always submitted her documents in time before 2020, but since that time she had some incidents in her personal life which meant that she had not been so organised in the administrative side of her business.

3.  She had relied on her insurance company sending the confirmation to the Licensing Office as they had always done so in the past but had neglected to do so on this occasion.  She accepted it was her responsibility and she would make sure that she did this herself in the future.  The Lead Licensing Officer confirmed that it was not unusual for drivers to rely on insurance brokers to supply proof of insurance, but he would always recommend against it as it was the responsibility of the driver to provide the information.

4.  At no point had her vehicle been without insurance or a valid MOT.  There was a point where the garage was waiting for some parts, but the vehicle was off-road in the garage during this time.

5.  She asked the Sub-Committee to also take into consideration that she had received 3 penalty points on her driving license for driving 24mph in a 20mph zone.  The Lead Licensing Officer confirmed that as this was the first incident of its kind, it would result in a first warning letter and no further action would be taken.

The members of the Sub-Committee, Lead Licensing Officer and Team Leader, Legal Services asked questions of the licensee regarding each of the issues raised in the report and she responded accordingly:

1.  She did now understand the importance of providing the correct documentation in a timely manner to assist the Council in its role of protecting the public and would endeavour to do this in the future.

2.  She had evidence which she could now supply to the Licensing Office and apologised for not doing this sooner.

The Chair asked the licensee if she felt she had received a fair hearing and had said everything she wished to say before the meeting was adjourned.  The licensee confirmed that she had done so.

The licensee and licensing officers left the meeting as the Committee made their decision and were invited back to hear the decision and reasons.

Decisions and Reasons

Members considered whether or not the applicant was a fit and proper person to continue to hold her combined Hackney Carriage/Private Hire Driver’s licence in the light of failures to comply with the terms of her Hackney Carriage Proprietor’s Licence. In doing so Members took account of the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976, Human Rights Act 1998, case law and the Council Policy.

Members heard from the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 53.

54.

Consideration of Fit and Proper - 2200251TAXI pdf icon PDF 132 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Lead Licensing Officer presented the report to the Sub-Committee. He advised Members to consider the matter, determine the issue and take any action they may consider suitable after hearing the representation from the licensee.

The licensee presented his case as follows:

1.  There had been incidents in the past where he had not supplied documents in time which had been administrative errors on his part.  He had received penalties for this and now set reminders to ensure that he wouldn’t miss deadlines.

2.  He had driven to the licensing office to collect his new badge not knowing that he was not able to drive his vehicle for personal use without a badge.  This had been a genuine mistake and he had not tried to hide it from the licensing officer.  The Lead Licensing Officer confirmed this account but stated that drivers should be aware of this as part of the knowledge test.

3.  He accepted he had made a serious error in driving his vehicle after it failed his MOT.  He had promised to give a friend a lift to Glasgow and did not want to let him down.  He confirmed he had evidence of his friend’s address to show the Sub-Committee.

4.  He asked the Sub-Committee to consider his record of a taxi driver as he had made approximately 15,000 journeys without a single complaint.

The members of the Sub-Committee, Lead Licensing Officer and Team Leader, Legal Services asked questions of the licensee regarding each of the issues raised in the report and he responded accordingly:

1.  He had not intended to mislead the Lead Licensing Officer when he said his car was in the garage after failing its MOT but had replied to the email too quickly before considering his response.

2.  He was uncertain whether his insurance would be invalid if he drove his vehicle after it had failed its MOT and whether the previous MOT pass superseded the subsequent fail.  The Lead Licensing Officer confirmed that the insurance would be null and void in such circumstances.

3.  He did not dispute the facts of the case and admitted that he had made mistakes.

The Chair asked the licensee if he felt he had received a fair hearing and had said everything he wished to say before the meeting was adjourned.  The licensee confirmed he had prepared a closing statement but questioned whether he should read it.  The Team Leader Legal Services encouraged him to make his statement to ensure that the committee had all the necessary information to make their decision.

The licensee then read a statement regarding his personal circumstances and the importance of him retaining his licence.

The licensee and licensing officers left the meeting as the Committee made their decision and were invited back to hear the decision and reasons.

Decisions and Reasons

Members considered whether or not the applicant was fit and proper to continue to hold his combined Hackney Carriage/Private Hire Driver’s licence in the light of failures to comply  ...  view the full minutes text for item 54.