Agenda and minutes

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

Councillor Sarah Moore was present at the meeting as substitute for Councillor Toby Simon who had sent his apologies to the Sub-Committee.

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 24th July 2025 and they were duly signed by the Chair.

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 explained that they were being asked to consider whether the licensee remains fit and proper to hold a combined Hackney Carriage/Private Hire Drivers licence issued by this authority.

The Chair asked if officers would accept notification from a licensee if their vehicle had developed a fault which would lead to the late submission of an MOT certificate.

The Public Protection Officer (Licensing) replied that if a fault was identified that would delay the issuing of the MOT certificate and the licensee declared that the vehicle was not in use during that time, this would be acceptable.

The licensee said that they had no recollection of the complaint made against them in January 2022.

The Public Protection Officer (Licensing) replied that copies of the email exchange were within the agenda pack (Annex L). She handed the licensee a hard copy of the agenda pack so that they could see the complaint.

The Chair announced that as there was no resolution to the complaint, he would ask the other members of the Sub-Committee to disregard it.

The licensee addressed the Sub-Committee and said that they take their role seriously and enjoy working with the public. They acknowledged that they must improve with regard to the administrative duties of the role.

Councillor Sarah Moore commented that the licensee’s vehicle and its condition must be a priority to them. She asked why they had driven it without an MOT.

The licensee explained that while there had been a number of instances where there were gaps in MOT cover they had only carried passengers in one of those periods.

Councillor Sarah Moore asked the licensee why there was reference to three names when they booked their vehicle into repair.

The licensee responded that the correspondence included their personal email, the individual who booked the vehicle in and their friend who had obtained a discount for them at the garage.

Councillor Ann Morgan asked the licensee what they felt they could do to improve their organisational skills.

The licensee said that they would ask their partner to help with the administrative parts of the job.

The Chair stated that in his view, for the licensee to have this many gaps in MOT cover was appalling. He added that the licensee would have been aware of the conditions of their licence when it had been granted to them.

He explained to the licensee that there were many apps available to help with reminders that they could use on their mobile phone and that normally insurance companies send reminders for renewal.

The licensee said that they would look into using a reminder app and would strive to do better. They will request that their partner assists them to ensure this does not happen again. They said that they regretted that their actions had led to a meeting of the Sub-Committee being required.

The Lawyer (Regulatory & Prosecution) asked the licensee if they had current insurance cover for  ...  view the full minutes text for item 34.