Agenda and minutes

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting held on 22 January 2020 be confirmed.

No declarations of interest were received.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the Hackney Carriage and Private Hire

Sub-Committee held on 25 June 2020 be confirmed.

Tom Charlesworth, Licensing Officer:

a)    presented a report to the Licensing Committee for the consideration of  proposal from Christine Kimbrell, Managing Director of both Seyexclusive Ltd and Holla Tuk Tuk Ltd to licence a Tuk Tuk as a private hire vehicle

b)    explained that the purpose of the report was to seek the committee’s decision on whether to depart from its current policy to licence a vehicle that did not meet all of the criteria as set out in the Private Hire Vehicle specification contained within the Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Licensing Policy

c)    stated that the onus was on the applicant to explain to the Licensing Committee why it should depart from that policy and allow Tuk Tuks to be licensed as Private Hire Vehicles in Lincoln and appropriate reasons should be given for the determination and if policy had been departed from, then reasons for such departments should be given

d)    detailed the proposal outlined at Appendix A of his report

e)    advised that any vehicle used for private hire purposes (this was collecting for a journey which had been pre-booked) must be licensed as a private hire vehicle under the provision of the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976 (the Act).

f)     explained that the Council could not condition a private hire vehicle to limit the area of the district in which it could operate, once a private hire licence had been granted to a vehicle, that vehicle could undertake journeys anywhere in England and Wales, irrespective of the local authority area where the journey commenced, areas through which the journey passed and, ultimately, the area where the journey ended

g)    advised that a Council determined vehicle suitability through the implementation of  policy, the Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Licensing Policy was agreed by the Licensing Committee and came into effect in March 2016, this Policy contained a vehicle specification for private hire vehicles that could be licensed in Lincoln

h)    stated that the Council would consider all applications for private hire vehicle licence on their own merits once it was satisfied that the appropriate criteria had been met, currently, if all policy criteria was met, then Licensing Officers had delegated authority to issue a licence once an application was received.

i)     added that if an applicant did not meet all policy criteria then the Licensing Committee would then decide whether to depart from its policy and issue a licence by determining the appropriate requirements

j)     informed that it would be the responsibility of the applicant to show why in each case, the Council should depart from the policy, where it was necessary for the Council to depart substantially from its policy, clear and compelling reasons would be given for doing so

k)    advised that the Licensing Committee did deviate from its current policy in June 2018 to allow a private hire operator permission to licence a Lamborghini Huracan as a private hire vehicle for restricted private hire use, whilst the vehicle was never licenced  ...  view the full minutes text for item 12.