Agenda and minutes

Members are asked to declare any interests in the items under consideration and in doing so state:

(1) the type of interest concerned either a

(a)   personal interest

(b)   prejudicial interest

(c)    disclosable pecuniary interest (DPI)

and

(2) the nature of the interest concerned

If any member requires advice on declarations of interests, they are advised to contact the Head of Democratic Governance in advance of the meeting.

There were no declarations of interest on this occasion.

To agree the minutes of the last meeting held on 25 April 2023 as a true and correct record.

The Sub-Committee considered the minutes of the last meeting held on 6 December

2022.

Resolved: That the minutes of the meeting held on 25 April 2023 be approved and

signed by the Chairman as a correct record.

Resolved: That under Section 100 (A) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the whole item, including the decisions referred to at Agenda item 4 on the grounds that it would involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph 1 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act.

To consider new applicants and existing licence holders who have been convicted of

offences or who have otherwise given reasons for concern.

The Sub-Committee considered the cases for existing licence holders and new applicants for Private Hire and Hackney Carriage Driver’s Licences who had been convicted of offences or who had otherwise given the Licensing Authority cause for concern.

S.M.

Mr Ryan Ratcliffe presented the case to the Sub-Committee on behalf of the Local Authority. S.M had been a licensed driver since 2010 with an exemplary record, in February 2023 the Licensing Service received an application to transfer a licence to S.M, in March 2023 S.M made a written request via email to the Licensing Service to have conditions removed from the Hackney Carriage Vehicle Licence. The previous licence holder held a number of Hackney Carriage Vehicle Licences at that time and due to defects/maintenance issues conditions were imposed all their licences by the Sub-Committee in February 2013. The full list of conditions imposed on the licence were:

·         The licence holder or a suitably qualified mechanic must inspect the vehicle on a weekly basis

·         The licence holder is to implement a vehicle safety inspection regime to be undertaken at a minimum of every two months by a qualified motor engineer. Such records to be kept for 2 years.

·         Records of all servicing to be retained for 2 years.

• All service/inspection records must be legible
• All records to be produced to enforcement or police officers within 24 hours of the demand being made.
• The licence holder must implement a procedure to ensure that drivers do a visual inspection of the licensed vehicle each time that they take charge of that vehicle and report any faults with it to the licence holder.

After obtaining the licence S.M. replaced the vehicle attached to the licence with a newer vehicle that was at the time of the report 12 years and 11 months old. The vehicle was inspected in March 2023, no defects or advisories were identified and the vehicle was passed fit for purpose on the same day. Mr Ratcliffe informed the Sub-Committee that the Licensing Service endorsed removing the conditions from S.M’s licence.

At the request of S.M the application was considered in their absence.

The Sub-Committee were in agreement that given S.M had replaced the vehicle with a newer model and with S.M’s exemplary driving record the Sub-Committee found it reasonable to remove the conditions.

Resolved:

The Sub-Committee agreed to remove the conditions as outlined above, from S.M’s Hackney Carriage Drivers Licence

C.B

Mr Ryan Ratcliffe presented the case of C.B on behalf of the Local Authority. In March 2023 the Licensing Service received an application for a new Private Hire Driver’s Licence, as part of the application process applicants were required to submit to an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS), this check had revealed that C.B had omitted from his application a conviction from 2017 for a harassment offence. While harassment offences were not specifically covered under the Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Licencing Policy, Mr Ratcliffe expressed that it was the opinion of the Licensing Service that an offence of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

To note the date of the next meeting as 18 July 2023.

The date of the next meeting was noted as 18 July 2023.