Agenda and minutes

Members are reminded of their responsibility to declare any personal interest in respect of matters contained in this agenda. If the interest arises only as result of your membership of another public body or one to which you have been appointed by the Council then you only need to declare it if you intend to speak.

If the personal interest is a prejudicial 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.

None of the Sub-Committee members declared an interest in the principal item for discussion on the meeting’s agenda.

To confirm as a correct the minutes of the meeting of the General Licensing Sub-Committee held on 3 September 2008 (enclosed)  

RESOLVED – That the minutes of the meeting of the General Licensing Sub-Committee held on 3 September 2008 be confirmed as a correct record.

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

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

Report of Corporate Director (Governance) (enclosed) 

The Sub-Committee considered a report of the Corporate Director of Governance seeking the Members’ instructions on any action deemed appropriate in respect of the Private Hire Driver’s Licence held by the person identified on the submitted report (Mr B).

The report drew attention to the failure of the licence holder to declare a current conviction for exceeding the 30mph speed limit on his licence renewal application form.  A further examination of the person’s driving licence had revealed the imposition of 11 penalty points, 8 of which had been awarded for speeding since the last renewal application.  The driver, however, had failed to notify the Council of the recent convictions within 7 days, as required as a condition of his licence.

The licence holder attended the meeting and was questioned on his breach of the condition of his licence.  A letter was circulated from the driver’s employing company, confirming their satisfaction with the licence holder’s capabilities as a driver.

The Licensing Officer, also presented a note which set out a series of convictions and penalties awarded against the driver since 1997 and referred to the decisions of the Sub-Committee on two previous occasions when the driver had appeared before the Sub-Committee.  This information was shown to the licence holder.  The Sub-Committee offered to adjourn to another date if Mr B required more time to consider the information which had not been contained in the agenda papers.  However, Mr B stated that he wished the hearing to go ahead.

(At the conclusion of the driver’s presentation of his representations and Sub-Committee’s questioning, the licence holder, Licensing Officer and Legal Advisor left the meeting).

The Sub-Committee gave due and careful consideration to all aspects of the matter, including the implications of the past convictions, offences and deliberations of the Sub-Committee; the licence holder’s representations; the public safety considerations; and each of the optional courses of action available to the Sub-Committee.

At the conclusion of their deliberations, the Sub-Committee RESOLVED (3:1):

(1)       That Mr B’s Private Hire Licence be not revoked, but that the licence holder be issued with a final warning explaining how seriously the Sub-Committee views his consistent record of speeding convictions and that the Sub-Committee will have no alternative but to revoke the licence if there is any further breach of the licensing conditions.

(2)       That the licence holders employers be notified also of the Sub-Committee’s decisions, highlighting the serious warning that has been issued to the driver.

(The licence holder was informed of the Sub-Committee’s decisions, which would subsequently be confirmed in writing).