Agenda and minutes

Members are reminded of their responsibility to declare any pecuniary interest in respect of matters contained in this agenda.

If you have a pecuniary interest you must withdraw from the meeting. Normally you should leave the room before the business starts to be discussed. You do, however, have the same right to speak as a member of the public and may remain in the room to enable you to exercise that right and then leave immediately. In either case you must not seek to improperly influence a decision on the matter.

There were no declarations of interests received.

The Chair outlined the hearing procedure that would be used to conduct the meeting.

To consider the exclusion of the press and public for the following items of business on the ground that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraph * of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972.

By Virtue of Paragraph 1: Information relating to any individual.

Condition:

Information is exempt to the extent that, in all the circumstances of the case, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.

Information is not exempt if it relates to proposed development for which the local planning authority may grant itself planning permission pursuant to Regulation 3 of the Town & Country Planning General Regulations 1992(a).

RESOLVED – That the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following item of business on the grounds that it involved the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraph 1 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972.

Report of the Director of Customer and Digital.

The Director of Customer and Digital submitted a report for the General Licensing Sub-Committee to determine whether the applicant was a fit and proper person to hold a licence.

The applicant and his legal representative were present at the Sub-Committee.

On 21 March 2019 the Council received an application for both a Private Hire Driver’s (PHD) licence and Hackney Carriage Driver’s (HCD) licence and on 16 April 2019 the applicant passed the Council’s Knowledge Test.

Members were informed that, in support of his application, the applicant declared that he had held a Private Hire Driver’s licence with Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council (BwDBC) since 2001 and that, on 13 November 2018, this licence had been revoked with immediate effect following a complaint by a member of the public in relation to an alleged sexual assault. Details of the complaint were contained in the report.

Following this allegation, the applicant was arrested and released on bail with conditions. On 21 September 2018 the decision was made by the Constabulary to take no further action in relation to this complaint and the applicant was released without charge.

Members were informed that the applicant did not appeal the subsequent decision of the General Licensing Sub-Committee of BwDBC to revoke his licence.

The applicant’s legal representative gave an overview of the applicant’s good character and advised Members that no appeal had been made against the decision of BwDBC to revoke his licence owing to the likely costs that would be incurred by legal proceedings and based on advice received that he would earn more as a driver in Chorley than he had in Blackburn.

With regards to the complaint made against the applicant in 2018, the applicant’s legal representative drew Members’ attention to the fact that the Police had investigated the incident and had found insufficient evidence to proceed with a prosecution.

The applicant’s legal representative confirmed that the applicant had co-operated with the Police and BwDBC throughout the investigation and had been released on bail while enquiries were carried out. He advised that the bail conditions had been amended to facilitate the applicant’s continued employment as a taxi driver during this time.

The applicant’s legal representative drew Members’ attention to some discrepancies between the complainant’s statements to the Police (which had not been submitted to this Sub-Committee) and to BwDBC.

The applicant’s legal representative outlined the applicant’s account of the incident. The applicant had known the complainant three years previously in a professional capacity as she was a frequent customer of the taxi firm he worked for, although he had not seen her since that time. The applicant’s legal representative stated that the applicant did not make any comment about the complainant’s father, but that he had greeted her, and they had a brief conversation about her change in employment. He drove the short journey to her house, during which the complainant remarked she was single and was ‘looking for a man’. At the conclusion of the journey the complainant hugged the applicant  ...  view the full minutes text for item 19.28