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 16th October 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. He 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.

He added that within the past week the Licensing department had received some additional information from the Police relating to an alleged offence that had been committed by the licensee on 24th September 2025. The alleged offence was the failure to comply with a red traffic light.

He explained that this resulted in a warning letter being sent to the keeper of the vehicle as the statutory time limits had expired.

The licensee addressed the Sub-Committee and said that they had been a taxi driver for 15 years, has a good record overall and many returning customers. They added that they had received a lot of five-star reviews on Uber and that as part of their role they take a child with SEND to and from school every day and has done this for the past three years.

They stated that their training and safeguarding records were all up to date.

They said that they were sorry for not issuing their insurance details in time and said that on this occasion it had been due to moving house.

They explained that English was not their first language and required help on occasion to understand information. They stated that they would ensure that this does not happen again.

The Chair asked the licensee if they would like to comment further on the incidents that had occurred with some customers / members of the public.

The licensee said that they believed that the two complaints made against them were racially motivated and said that from where they were at the time of one of the alleged incidents it would have been impossible to spit into the other vehicle.

They added that the incident in Combe Down was due to a lack of communication and that they were trying to be polite and helpful.

They stated that they had also not driven away whilst a customer was leaving their vehicle.

They informed the Sub-Committee that they have over 3,000 five-star ratings with Uber.

Councillor Toby Simon asked the licensee what their overall Uber rating was.

The licensee replied that it was 4.97.

Councillor Simon asked if the licensee had any other previous speeding offences prior to the offences that occurred in 2024.

The licensee replied that they had not any prior to 2024.

The Chair stated that a delay of 130 days to submit new insurance details was quite a gap and asked the licensee if they would like to make any further comment on this issue.

The licensee replied that there had been a lot of admin to do as part of the move and that when they had renewed their insurance, they had simply forgotten to send it into the Licensing department.

The Public Protection Officer (Licensing) reminded the licensee that  ...  view the full minutes text for item 49.

Decision & Reasons

The Licensee was not in attendance at the hearing today. The Licensee had been notified of the Licensing Sub-Committee hearing by email on 30 December 2025 and they were required to attend the hearing at 10am on 12 February 2026 at the Guildhall in Bath. The Licensing Officer’s report and appendices were sent to the Licensee on 20 January 2026. This includes a warning that if they fail to attend the hearing, the matter might proceed in their absence. The Licensee did not send an acknowledgement or provide any updates to the Licensing Team following this correspondence.

On 12 February 2026, it was noted that the Licensee had not arrived at the Guildhall by 10am. The Licensing Officer made enquiries with the Licensee. The Licensing Officer emailed the Licensee at 10.18am and phoned and left a voicemail with the Licensee at 10.31am, on the email and mobile telephone number held for them on file.  The Licensing Officer noted that there was a non-UK type ringtone when calling the Licensee, so there was a possibility that they were abroad. By 11am a response had not been received, and the Licensee was not in attendance.

Members had to determine whether the matter should proceed in the Licensee’s absence today. In doing so, they had regard to the licensing procedure within the agenda report pack which says as follows:

“In circumstances where a party fails to attend the Committee will consider whether to proceed in absence or defer to the next meeting. Should a matter be deferred the deferral notice will state that the matter may proceed in a party’s absence on the next occasion. In deciding whether to proceed all notices, communications and representations will be considered.”

Members had regard to the correspondence with the Licensee in relation to their attendance at the hearing. The Licensee had been given adequate notice of the Licensing Sub-Committee hearing. They had not informed the Licensing Section that they could not attend the hearing. They had also been warned that the hearing may proceed in their absence. Members determined that it was in the public interest to proceed in their absence.

Members considered whether or not the Licensee is a fit and proper person to continue to hold their combined Hackney Carriage/Private Hire Driver’s licence in light of complaints received from members of the public and breaching a condition in their licence.

In doing so Members took account of the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976, Human Rights Act 1998, case law and the Council’s Policy.

It is a legal requirement that drivers and operators must be ‘fit and proper’ for a licence to be granted under the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976. The Fit and Proper Person test is a statutory test, but there is no statutory definition. However, the Panel needs to be mindful of the Council’s Policy and the Statutory taxi and private hire vehicle standards which provides the Fit and Proper person test as: “Licensing authorities have a duty  ...  view the full minutes text for item 50.