Agenda item

The Director of Neighbourhood and Environmental Servics submits a report.

The Director of Neighbourhood and Environmental Services submitted a report concerning the application for the renewal of a Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Vehicle Driver’s Licence.

The applicant was present with a Union Representative. The Licensing Team Manager, Licensing Enforcement Officer, and Legal Adviser were also present at the meeting.

Introductions were made and the Chair outlined the procedure of the meeting to those present.

The Licensing Team Manager outlined the details of the application, including the relevant City Council Policy Guidelines and drew Members’ attention to the conviction referred to in the report.

The applicant and his representative set out the reasons why they thought he should continue to hold a Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Driver’s Licence and answered questions from Members.

All parties were then given the opportunity to sum up and make any final comments.

The Sub-Committee received legal advice from the Legal Adviser to the Sub-Committee in the presence of all those present.

In reaching their decision, Members felt they should deliberate in private on the basis that this was in the public interest and as such outweighed the public interest of their deliberation taking place with the parties represented present.

The Chair announced that the decision and reasons made during private deliberation would be publicly announced and confirmed in writing within five working days. The Chair informed the meeting that the Legal Adviser to the Sub-Committee would be called back to give advice on the wording of the decision.

The Chair then asked all but Members of the Sub-Committee and Democratic Support Officer to disconnect from the meeting. The Sub-Committee then deliberated in private in order to consider their decision.

The Sub-Committee recalled the Legal Adviser to the Sub-Committee to give advice on the wording of the decision. 

RESOLVED:

That the Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Vehicle Driver’s Licence be REFUSED.

It was noted that the hearing of the application was held virtually in accordance with the Local Authorities and Police and Crime Panel (Coronavirus)(Flexibility of Local Authority and Police and Crime Panel Meetings)(England and Wales)(Regulations) 2020 (The 2020 Regulations) and in accordance with the Council’s own Remote Procedure Rules.

REASON FOR THE DECISION

Members of the Sub-Committee had carefully considered the committee report placed before them. They had taken into account, where appropriate, the Department for Transport’s “Statutory Taxi & Private Hire Vehicle Standards”, the Regulators’ Code and the Council’s “Guidelines on relevance of convictions of Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Vehicle Drivers”. Members had also taken account of the oral and written representations.

Members of the Sub-Committee noted that save for the matter which now brought the applicant before the Committee, there was no history of any earlier complaints against him.

Members were informed the applicant had been a licensed Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Vehicle driver since 07 August 2008. The applicant’s Licence detailed the following on the title page of the document: “The licence holder must contact the Licensing Section immediately if you are reported or convicted of any offences, including endorsements on your Driving Licence. Failure to do this will result in your renewal application being delayed.”

The applicant had a criminal conviction for failing to give information as to the identity of a driver (MS90) on 04 August 2017, in respect of which he was fined and his DVLA Driver’s Licence was endorsed with 6 penalty points.

The Licensing Section had not yet received the applicant’s enhanced DBS check certificate and as such, the Committee had not yet been provided with written confirmation of the date of the conviction.

The applicant informed the Committee that he was not aware of the offending / conviction when he applied to renew his Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Vehicle Driver’s Licence on 14 August 2017 and in the circumstances, he could not declare the matter on that renewal application. Rather, the applicant indicated he had become aware of the conviction when he attended the Magistrates’ Court on 11 May 2018. However, he did not thereafter immediately, or at any time, notify the Licensing Section of the conviction.

On 2 October 2018 the applicant notified the Licensing Section by letter of a change of address. However, he did not take the opportunity to notify details of the conviction.

The applicant did not declare the conviction in his current renewal application submitted on 29 July 2020. In that application he incorrectly indicated that he had not been reported for, charged with or convicted of any offences. He had signed a declaration as to the correctness of the information he had provided.

Members had listened carefully to the applicant’s explanation for his omissions as originally set out in a letter dated 17 August 2020 from his representative. However, Members found the failure by the applicant to notify the details of the conviction at the correct time (or at any time) and thereafter, in the current renewal application, the provision of incorrect information and the signing of an incorrect declaration of correctness, in the circumstances presented to Members in this case, constituted ‘any other reasonable cause’ under section 61(1)(b) of the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976 and that it was appropriate to refuse to renew the Licence.

In failing to declare the conviction to the Licensing Section at the correct time, the applicant avoided being dealt with by Committee at that time in accordance with the Council’s “Guidelines on relevance of convictions”. Those Guidelines provided, in the absence of exceptional circumstances, for a period of 2 years free from conviction for such offending, which would have potentially meant revocation of the applicant’s Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Vehicle Driver’s Licence at the time.

The applicant repeated the omission in his current renewal application and had signed an incorrect declaration of correctness.

Members therefore refused to renew the Licence.

The applicant would be informed that he would have 21 days to appeal the decision to the Magistrate’s Court should he wish to do so.