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.

Procedure for the General Licensing Sub Committee meeting (enclosed)

The Chair outlined the hearing procedure following a complaint that would be used for this meeting following a complaint

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 items of business on the ground that they involve 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 Public Protection, Streetscene and Community (enclosed)

The Sub Committee considered a report of the Director of Public Protection, Streetscene and Community to determine if a driver is a fit and proper person to continue to hold his Hackney Carriage Vehicle and Hackney Carriage Driver licences following a complaint that had been made by a member of the public under Section 60 and 61 of the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976 – Suspension and Revocation of vehicle and drivers licences.

The driver and his representative, attended the meeting along with the complainants who had submitted the complaint against him.

On 4 June 2015, the Council received a complaint from a member of the public in relation to the manner in which Hackney Carriage Vehicle (HVC) was being driven on the evening of 29 May 2015 within the borough of Chorley and the Sub Committee provided with the details of the alleged complaint and viewed CCTV footage of the incident.

The driver was interviewed by officers in light of the complaint that had been received and a copy of his statement was contained within the report.

A statement from a member of the public who was one of the motorcyclists also provided a statement of the events on that evening. Although submitted after the agenda was published, this information was circulated to Members of the Sub Committee ahead of the meeting and the driver and his representative were given sufficient time to read its contents before the meeting commenced. The driver’s representative, did request for this information not to be considered due to the lateness of when the driver received the documentation; however after careful consideration the Sub Committee dismissed the request on the grounds that the statement added little extra to the initial complaint, was only three pages long and could be considered by the driver and his representative during the short period during which members debated in private the request to exclude the further statement.

The driver, his representative and the complainants all answered questions of each other and the Sub Committee throughout the hearing to ascertain all the relevant facts before a decision was made.

Members were concerned about the positioning of the two motorcycles and sought clarification about the staggered road formation on the dual carriageway.

Members also wanted to be clear about the events that took place before and after the driver forced his way through the middle of the two motorcyclists at the roundabout as was evidenced on the CCTV footage and were satisfied that they had all the relevant facts they needed to make their decision.

After considering all the information at the meeting the Sub Committee RESOLVED to authorise the Lead Licensing and Enforcement Officer to issue a written warning to the driver to lie on his licensing file.

The driver must satisfy the Licensing Unit that he has successfully completed a speed awareness course and a DSA taxi test within the next 3 months. If he fails to do this the driver will be brought back before the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 15.LSC.42