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 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.

Report of the Director of Customer and Digital (enclosed).

The Director of Customer and Digital submitted a report for the General Licensing Sub-Committee to determine whether a Licence Holder remained a fit and proper person to hold his Private Hire Driver’s Licence (PHD) and Hackney Carriage Driver’s Licence (HCD) following a complaint from a member of the public and failure to report a fixed penalty.

The Licence Holder attended the Sub-Committee alongside his representative.

The Licence Holder currently holds a Private Hire Driver Licence (PHD) and Hackney Carriage Driver Licence (HCD). On 23 May 2018 the Licence Holder was given a severe warning that the Sub-Committee instructed be placed on his driver’s file in relation to a serious incident involving the taxi whereby the Licence Holder drove off from the scene of an accident without stopping.

On 23 July 2018 Chorley Council received a complaint, via telephone call, regarding the manner in which a taxi had been driven. The complainant had been picked up from the Airport on 28 June 2018 with his family as arranged by a pre-paid booking. The complainant stated that during the journey from the airport the driver was swerving across all three motorway lanes as he appeared very tired and kept falling asleep at the wheel. The complainant asked that the driver come off the motorway at the Standish junction rather than Charnock Richard Services as the road speed was lower than 70mph. It was claimed that the driver was on the wrong side of the road on the motorway exit due to falling asleep again at the wheel. The driver allegedly fell asleep again later in the journey and mounted the pavement and on to the embankment at approximately 30mph on the corner of Clarence Street, Chorley.

The Licensing Officer subsequently investigated the complaint and was informed by an employee at the taxi company where the Licence Holder worked that the Licence Holder was the driver of the taxi subject to the complaint.

The Licensing Officer advised that the complainant worked away from home and therefore was unavailable to attend the hearing. Member’s attention was drawn to appendix 15 which set out the complainant’s statement.

On 23 July 2018 the Council also received an email from the Licence Holder stating that he had received three points on his licence on 13 July 2018 for speeding. The Licence Holder failed to comply with the condition on his PHD licence requiring him to notify the Council in writing of any conviction or caution recorded against him and/or the imposition of any endorsable or non-endorsable fixed penalty within seven days.

Members were made aware that it had not been possible to hold an interview with the Licence Holder as he had not been in the country in the prior weeks leading up to the Sub-Committee. Attempts had been made, as outlined in the report, to contact the Licence Holder without success. Following queries from the Legal Officer, it was confirmed by the Licensing Officer that he was satisfied based on his investigation that the Licence  ...  view the full minutes text for item 17.LSC.4