Agenda and minutes

In the event the fire alarm sounds attendees will be advised to evacuate the building via the nearest fire exit and assemble at the Bottle of Notes opposite MIMA.

The Chair welcomed those present and highlighted the Council’s Fire Evacuation Procedure. 

To receive any declarations of interest.

There were no Declarations of Interest made by Members at this point in the meeting.

The minutes of the Licensing Committee held on 23 February 2026 were submitted and approved as a correct record.

The Licensing Officer will provide a verbal update, if applicable, on any licensing appeals/revocations since the last meeting of the Committee.

The Principal Licensing Officer confirmed that there were no updates since the previous meeting. 

With the Chair’s consent, the Council’s Legal Representative provided the Committee with a brief reminder in relation to the procedure used for voting at Licensing Committee, in accordance with the Council Procedure Rules of the Council’s Constitution.

In summary, any proposal made by a Member of the Committee, must be seconded by another Member, and voted upon by a show of hands and decided by a simple majority.  In the event of equal votes ‘for’ and ‘against’, the Chair will have the deciding ‘casting’ vote.  Members were reminded that they may abstain from voting if they feel they do not have what they consider sufficient information to make a decision either way.  Should the first proposal fail, a second proposal may be put forward, and so on.

NOTED

To consider passing a Resolution Pursuant to Section 100A (4) Part 1 of the Local Government Act 1972 excluding the press and public from the meeting during consideration of the following items on the grounds that if present there would be disclosure to them of exempt information falling within paragraphs 1, 2, 3 and 7 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act and the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.

ORDERED that the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following items on the grounds that, if present, there would be disclosure to them of exempt information as defined in Paragraphs 1, 2, 3 and 7 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972 and that the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighed the public interest in disclosing the information.

The Principal Licensing Officer advised that the driver had sought legal representation prior to the meeting, however, the driver’s representative was unable to attend today’s meeting and, therefore, requested that consideration of the matter be deferred to the next available Licensing Committee.

The Principal Licensing Officer advised that both the driver and his representative had confirmed their availability to attend the next meeting of the Licensing Committee on 13 April 2026.

ORDERED that consideration of the review of Combined Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Vehicle Driver Licence, Ref: 04/26, be deferred to the next meeting of the Licensing Committee, scheduled for 13 April 2026, to afford the driver and his representative the opportunity to attend. 

The Corporate Director of Regeneration and Housing submitted an exempt report in connection with the review of Combined Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Vehicle Driver Licence, Ref: 05/26, where circumstances had arisen which required special consideration by the Committee.

The Chair introduced those present and outlined the procedure to be followed.  The driver, who was in attendance at the meeting accompanied by his legal representative, verified his name and address and confirmed he had received a copy of the report and understood its contents. 

The Principal Licensing Officer presented a summary of the report stating that the driver appeared before Members for review of his licence due to concerns regarding his honesty as a result of his alleged fraudulent actions.

It was noted that the driver had been licensed with Middlesbrough Council since November 2023, with his current licence due to expire on 31 October 2026.

The circumstances of the matter were that, on 14 January 2026, the Licensing Manager received an email from the Council’s Legal Services stating that they had been notified by the Council’s Integrated Transport Unit (ITU) that the driver had been contracted to undertake home to school transport runs and had submitted invoices for journeys that were not carried out, totalling more than £3,000.

Following receipt of this email, the Licensing Manager made further enquiries with the ITU and queried whether the matter had been reported to the Police.

On 15 January 2026, the Licensing Manager received an email from the ITU’s Independent Needs Assessor in response to his enquiries.  It was confirmed that the matter had been reported to the Police who stated they would not be dealing with the matter and it should, instead, be referred to the Council’s Trading Standards department.  The email provided an Overview of the details and requirements of the driver’s school run contract which commenced on 3 September 2025 and this was attached at Appendix 1, in addition to a summary provided in the submitted report. 

A letter, dated 26 November 2025, from the ITU to the driver, confirming the termination of his home to school transport contract was attached at Appendix 2.

The driver, accompanied by his wife, was interviewed by Licensing Officers on 17 February 2026, when he confirmed that he had carried out the specific home to school contract from 3 September 2025 to 19 November 2025 and that he had invoiced the ITU, in full, during this period.  He also confirmed that he had been informed by the ITU that the invoices should not have been submitted and needed to be repaid.  The driver stated he had initially paid the money back in instalments but had now paid the amount owed in full.

The driver explained that although he had undertaken home to school transport work previously, he had done so for an operator and that this had been his first time undertaking the contract directly with the ITU.  He stated that he did not fully understand the invoicing  ...  view the full minutes text for item 25/96

The Corporate Director of Regeneration and Housing submitted an exempt report in connection with the review of Private Hire Vehicle Driver Licence, Ref: 06/26, where circumstances had arisen which required special consideration by the Committee.

The Chair introduced those present and outlined the procedure to be followed.  The driver, who was in attendance at the meeting, verified his name and address and confirmed he had received a copy of the report and understood its contents. 

The Principal Licensing Officer presented a summary of the report outlining the circumstances leading to the review.  It was noted that the driver had been licensed with Middlesbrough Council since January 2025, with his current licence due to expire in December 2026.

The driver appeared before Members for review of his licence following information received from Stockton Council’s Licensing Team, on 28 January 2026, stating that they had been alerted to CCTV footage recorded by their Security and Surveillance Team during the early hours of that morning.

The CCTV footage showed the driver, in his Private Hire Licensed Vehicle, at 1.52am, stopping at a location in Stockton, and a lone female approaching the vehicle and speaking to the driver through the open front passenger window.  The female, believed to be a sex worker, then entered the vehicle and was driven through several streets before the vehicle turned into a car park.  Buildings obscured the view of the actual car park, however, it was noted that there was only one entrance/exit to the car park which was covered by the CCTV camera.  The vehicle was subsequently recorded leaving the car park at 2.04am.

Subsequent enquiries undertaken by the Council’s Licensing Officers confirmed the owner of the Private Hire Vehicle (which is leased to the driver) who confirmed the identity of the driver and that he had been driving the vehicle on the date in question.  Booking records were provided to Licensing Officers by the driver’s Private Hire Operator in relation to booking records for the time period in question, and this revealed there was no clear evidence of a valid booking for the time period covering the incident in question.  A copy of the booking record was attached at Appendix 1.

The driver was interviewed by Licensing Officers 18 February 2026, when he provided an explanation in relation to the incident.  A transcript of the Officers’ notes from the interview were contained within the report. The driver had stated that he believed he had been allocated a booking from a second Private Hire Operator that he also worked for, however, upon checking his phone records, it was discovered that the timing of that booking was unrelated.  When the CCTV footage was shown to the driver, he maintained that he could not remember why he was in the location in question or who the  female was.

A Licensing Officer made further enquiries in relation to the incident on 19 February 2026 with the owner of the Private Hire Vehicle, in the presence of the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 25/97