To consider the attached report. A further appendix will be circulated separately to this agenda.
Minutes:
The Sub-Committee received a report from the Licensing Officer which set out the detail of an application for a hackney carriage/private hire driver licence from an applicant with a previous relevant conviction.
The Sub-Committee was advised that this application had been considered at the last meeting of the Sub-Committee held on 3 December 2021 but had been deferred so that further information could be obtained from another local authority that the applicant had confirmed at that meeting that he had held a licence with.
The Licencing Officer confirmed that due to the nature of the conviction and driving offence, in line with Council Policy, this deferred application had to be considered by this Sub-Committee.
The Sub-Committee was also advised of an amendment that needed to be made to the report before it. This was to correct an error around the nature of a driving offence set out in Paragraph 1.7 of the report.
The Licensing Officer also referred to the supplement pack that had been circulated to Members separately to the agenda. A Data Protection Act information request has been made to the authority that the applicant had previously worked for. The response to the request confirmed the type of license that the applicant had held with that authority and the dates covered. The Licensing Officer worked through the detail of the response received and reported that the applicant had had an application for a private hire driver licence refused from that authority in 2019 and that this had not been declared on the applicant’s application to this Council. The reasons for this refusal were explained to the Sub-Committee.
The applicant was in attendance and provided detail around his application that had been refused by the other authority and that there had been various administrative errors made by that authority that had led to the application being refused.
The Sub-Committee had no questions to ask the applicant. The Licensing Officer asked questions of the applicant seeking confirmation as to whether he was applying for a private hire driver licence, hackney carriage licence or operator licence. It was confirmed that a private hire licence was being requested.
All parties left the room to enable the Sub-Committee to consider the matter.
All parties were then recalled being advised of the Sub-Committee’s decision.
The Chair confirmed that the Sub-Committee had worked through the applicant’s application very thoroughly and had taken on board the applicant’s statement and questions asked and responses provided. The Sub-Committee had concern that the applicant had not declared on his application form that he had had an application for a private hire licence refused by another authority. Such an omission normally provided grounds to instantly refuse an application, but having taken on board all of the evidence provided by the applicant and having applied the application to Paragraph 34 of the Council’s Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Licensing Policy and Handbook (the Policy) and the provisions of Sections 51 and 59 of the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976, the Sub-Committee confirmed its decision which was to grant the licence, subject to a new DBS check with no conviction other than those stated, knowledge test, medical and driving assessment, being completed to the satisfaction of Officers. That Officers would reject the application if other conviction were found.
The Interim Legal Services Manager reminded the applicant that for any other licence applications that he may submit in the future, it was imperative that section 7 of the application be fully completed, in line with Paragraph 41 of the Policy as it was an offence to make a false declaration or statement.
The Sub-Committee therefore
RESOLVED
To grant the licence, subject to a new DBS check with no conviction other than those stated, knowledge test, medical and driving assessment, being completed to the satisfaction of Officers. That Officers would reject the application if other conviction were found.