Agenda and minutes

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

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 Director of Adult Social Care and Health Integration submitted an exempt report in connection with the review of Private Hire Vehicle Driver Licence, Ref: 01/24, 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, accompanied by his representative, was in attendance at the meeting and verified his name and address and confirmed that he had received a copy of the report and understood its contents. 

The Licensing Manager presented a summary of the report, and firstly highlighted that the date on page 5 of the report, “18 June 2023” should be 18 June 2021.  The report outlined that the driver had applied for a Private Hire Vehicle driver licence to Middlesbrough Council in October 2023.  Having successfully completed the application process, the licence was issued to him, however, it subsequently came to light that the driver had previously held a Private Hire Vehicle driver licence with Redcar and Cleveland Council, which was revoked on 18 June 2021 following an incident where it was alleged that the driver had been involved in a confrontation with a group of youths and had spat at a teenage girl.

It was accepted that there had been an administrative error on the part of Middlesbrough Council as the National Register of Taxi and Private Hire Licence Revocations and Refusals had not been checked.  It was noted, however, that the driver had not disclosed the revocation of his licence by Redcar and Cleveland Council on his application form. 

As a result of the licence being issued by Middlesbrough Council in error, the driver voluntarily agreed not to commence working as a Private Hire Vehicle driver until such time that the matter had been resolved.

Further enquiries with Redcar and Cleveland Council revealed that Licensing Officers were made aware of an incident that had occurred in June 2021, and had been circulating on social media, showing the driver confronting a group of teenagers and spitting and a female teen.  The video footage was no longer available.  Redcar and Cleveland Officers stated that as a result of the incident a decision was made to revoke the driver’s licence, with immediate effect, and a letter, dated 18 June 2021, was sent to the driver advising him of this (copy attached at Appendix 1).  Redcar’s records showed that the driver’s badges were received by their Licensing Office on 24 June 2023.

The driver, accompanied by a Licensing Consultant, was interviewed by the Licensing Manager on 21 December 2023.  There appeared to be a dispute as to whether the driver had surrendered his licence to Redcar and Cleveland prior to their decision to revoke it.

The driver confirmed that the report was an accurate representation of the facts and was invited to address the Committee in support of his case. 

The Licensing Consultant presented the case on behalf of the driver and advised that he had full knowledge of the incident in 2021 and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 23/3