Minutes:
The Licensing Officer:
a) presented the report which detailed that the licence holder had held a hackney carriage drivers licence since September 2009
b) explained that the licence holder had 9 penalty points on his driving licence which he had failed to disclose 3 points
c) confirmed that it came to the Licensing Teams attention on receipt of the driving licence check which showed the licence holder had 9 penalty points and the Licensing team were not aware of this
d) highlighted that there had been complaints made against the licence holder and it was also alleged that other offences had been committed as detailed in the report
e) presented and played video footage to the Licensing Committee in relation to the alleged offences by licence holder.
Members of the committee asked the licence holder relevant questions regarding the alleged offences and responses were given.
The Licensing Officer then provided further paperwork to the committee relating to the case.
The chair asked the committee if they should adjourn the hearing for a short period of time to allow members to read the relevant paperwork.
The committee confirmed that they were happy for the hearing to proceed without the need to adjourn.
The chair gave the Licensing Officer the opportunity to speak in further detail about the application.
The Licensing officer confirmed he had nothing else to add
The chair then gave the applicants representative the opportunity to also add any further information to the case.
The representative summed up his case on behalf of the applicant.
Further to the information that had been presented, the Legal and Democratic Services manager asked the applicant for clarification on whether he had understood the requirements of being a Hackney Carriage driver and whether the Licensing Team conversed with him sufficiently.
The applicant confirmed that he understood the requirements and thanked the Licensing Team for their patience when dealing with him and explained that he understood all the information given to him.
Decision
That the applicant’s application for a Hackney Carriage licence was revoked and a further application would not be considered by the council within 2 years of the date of this decision notice.
Reason for the Decision:
1) The applicant has been a driver for a number of years and there were a list of concerns relating to his licence
2) The applicant was dishonest on the basis that he would have known about the need to declare the 3 penalty points to the Licensing Officer with regards to totting
3) The applicant clearly stated that the Licensing team members have been thorough
4) The witness statements were quite compelling as to the offences
5) There was certainly one offence of touting for hire which had been admitted
6) The licensing policy states that for a licensing offence, which had been admitted by the applicant, an individual should not be able to reapply for a licence within 3 years of a conviction for a plying for hire offence
7) The members felt there was good reason to take this element of the policy of the council into account, however felt that a 2 year bar on applying would be sufficient in the circumstances
8) Members felt that the applicant had a good command of the English language and understands the requirements laid out by the council for hackney carriage drivers and in any event should know being a member of the taxi community
9) By plying for hire through beckoning an individual, and most likely two individuals outside a private hire company where they had booked a vehicle for a journey, it showed that it was a deliberate act by the applicant to take customers away from the private hire rank
10) The overriding duty was the protection of the public and it was felt by the members that the applicant had not demonstrated that he was a fit and proper person to hold a licence