Agenda and minutes

The Democratic Services Officer advised the meeting of the 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. 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.

There were none.

There was none.

These were approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

The Chairman explained the procedure to be followed for the meeting and all parties stated they had read, heard and understood the 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. 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.

The Lead Officer - Licensing presented the report to the Sub-Committee. He explained that the report invited the Members to consider whether the Licensee concerned remains fit and proper to hold a combined Hackney Carriage/Private Hire Driver’s licence following a recent complaint alleging refusal of fares and homophobic comments.

The Sub-Committee is also asked to consider a history of complaints received regarding the Licensee since first licensed by the Bath & North East Somerset Council and the former Bath City Council.

The Lead Officer – Licensing said that on the 4th October 2020 Licensing Services received a complaint alleging refusal of fares and intimidating behaviour, including homophobic comments. He added that due to the nature of the allegations the matter was passed to the Police to advise on whether a threshold of criminal behaviour had been crossed.

He explained that advice was received from the Police that there were potential offences, and the complainant was subsequently advised that due to the nature of the allegations the Police would be the primary investigating body and the Council would review the outcome of a Police investigation.

He stated that the complainant contacted the British Transport Police (BTP) who investigated the matter and interviewed the Licensee under Caution. The BTP concluded that the matter would be referred to the Crown Prosecution Service for them to decide future actions, and duly informed the complainant of this course of action.

The complainant then informed the BTP that he no longer wanted them to investigate the matter. The BTP informed Licensing Services, and the decision was taken to refer the matter to the Licensing Sub-Committee due to the serious nature of the original allegations and the intended course of action of the BTP after reviewing the evidence.

The Lead Officer – Licensing informed the Sub-Committee that there have been 23 previous complaints recorded on the Licensees file.

The Sub-Committee then agreed to listen to two audio clips between the Licensee and one of the complainants from October 2020 at Bath Spa Station taxi rank.

One of the complainants addressed the Sub-Committee to confirm that his statement given at the time of the incident was a true record.

The other complainant addressed the Sub-Committee. He said that he meant no ill towards the Licensee but felt that he needed to report the accusations. He added that following the incident he had felt depressed.

The Licensee addressed the Sub-Committee. He said that he drives a noisy cab and has to speak up to make sure passengers can hear him and that some may see this as aggressive or rude.

He explained that the cab has nine grab handles within it and that the characteristics of the cab mean that it can rock and roll a bit when cornering. He added that he has a clean driving licence, has never been in trouble with the Police and has not suffered any damage to his vehicle.

He said that when people make complaints they lie to make their case stronger.

He  ...  view the full minutes text for item 53.