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 1 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 (Customer and Digital) enclosed.

The Director of Customer and Digital submitted a report for the General Licensing Sub-Committee to determine whether the Licence Holder remained a fit and proper person to hold his private hire driver licence (PHD), his hackney carriage driver licence (HCD) and his private hire vehicle licence (PHV) after consideration of the information contained within the report.

The Licence Holder and his representative were both present to make their representations to the Sub-Committee.

Members were informed that on 24 May 2018, a complaint was raised to Chorley Council stating that the Licence Holder was stealing from vulnerable customers who suffer from Dementia. The complainant did not wish to be named. The complainant claimed that the vulnerable customers were having monies withdrawn from their accounts by the Licence Holder who was subsequently keeping the money. The Licence Holder had been arrested in regards to these matters and had been released on bail whilst an investigation was conducted.

On 24 May, a request for information in regards to this complaint was made to Lancashire Police. Subsequently, a telephone conversation took place between the Council’s Licensing Officer and the Police Officer dealing with the case, who gave an account of the case as requested and provided an email for clarification.

In summary this indicated that the police received a report from a family member of an elderly vulnerable man stating they had noticed large sums of money being taken out of ATM’s whilst the elderly man was bed bound in hospital. They named the Licence Holder concerned as the offender who had met the gentleman through regularly picking him up in his taxi and built up his trust. The gentleman stated he trusted the Licence Holder with his bank card and PIN in order to get his shopping for him and nothing more, the two had an understanding that the full transaction amount would be taken out when requested.

The Licence Holder had been arrested for fraud and subsequently released on bail pending investigation. On his arrest, another bank card belonging to an additional elderly male was found upon the Licence Holder’s person. The Licence Holder explained that this was another elderly vulnerable male who he similarly met through his taxi driving and built up his trust. This male had no family and it was reported that the Licence Holder was in the process of applying to have power of attorney over the finances of this second male.

Following contact with the Licence Holder, an appointment was made for him to discuss these matters with the Licensing Officer at the Chorley Council Offices. The Licence Holder attended the meeting where he confirmed that he was currently on Police Bail pending investigation and clarified the officer leading the investigation who arrested him and conducted the interview.

The Licence Holder first applied for his licences at Chorley Council in September 2015. The Licence Holder declared a Police Caution from May 2010, within his application. This was subsequently considered by the General Licensing Sub-Committee who determined that  ...  view the full minutes text for item 17.LSC.156