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 if 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 4 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.

The Director of Early Intervention and Support submitted a report for Members to determine whether the applicant was a fit and proper person to hold a Private Hire Driver Licence (PHD).

The applicant, his partner and his representative were all present to make their representations to the Sub-Committee.

Before outlining the report, the Licensing Officer addressed an apparent erroneous entry on the applicant’s DBS. It was confirmed that the two offences took place on 11 August 2014. The applicant confirmed that he had recently submitted an appeals form to the DBS regarding the inaccurate dates and an appeal against the classification of the caution as a conviction.

Members were also informed that the new plates, following the amendment of the applicant’s private hire vehicle insurance, had been collected subsequent to the writing of the report. As outlined in the report, officers were informed that the applicant was suffering financially since the expiration of his licence and therefore advised that the applicant could amend his private hire vehicle insurance to include another driver, to whom he could then rent the vehicle. The Licensing Officer presented a letter which confirmed this amendment.

The applicant made an application for a PHD licence on 23 November 2017 under Section 51 of the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976. The applicant had previously been licensed at Chorley Council since July 2014 until his licence lapsed in October 2017. Therefore, the new application was to be treated as for a grant as his previous licence had expired and therefore could not be renewed.

When originally licensed in 2014 the applicant produced his Enhanced DBS Certificate as required. The applicant was convicted in May 2003 of offence for failing to report an accident that took place in December 2002 and fined £80 as a result. At the meeting, the applicant confirmed the details of the incident whereby a vehicle undertook him and clipped his mirror, words were exchanged but the applicant was in the car with his son and so drove off. Four months later the police came to the applicant’s house for not reporting the incident when he was required to do so within 24 hours.

At the time of his application, the applicant also completed a Knowledge Test in October 2014 in which he identified that a taxi driver must notify the Council in writing within 7 days of any conviction in any court. The applicant was again required to produce a new Enhanced DBS Certificate for the new application. The Certificate revealed a conditional caution of Offence Destroy or Damage Property and a caution for the Offence of Battery in August 2014. This was in addition to the Conviction disclosed in the original DBS Certificate. The information on the DBS revealed that the applicant was convicted as above during the application process for his PHD licence but did not reveal this information to Chorley Council at the time.

It was noted that during the application process the applicant satisfied all of the other required  ...  view the full minutes text for item 17.LSC.139