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.

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 advised Members that two drivers had appealed the decision by the Licensing Committee held on 29 April 2026 to revoke their licences.  The first driver’s licence was revoked by the Committee following overpayments made to him by the Transport Unit and the second driver’s licence was revoked following CCTV footage showing him to pick up an alleged sex worker.

The Chair asked that the Committee be kept updated with regard to the outcome of both appeals.

NOTED

There were no other urgent items.

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 Corporate Director of Regeneration and Housing submitted an exempt report in connection with an application for renewal of a Private Hire Vehicle Driver Licence, Ref: 15/26, where circumstances had arisen which required special consideration by the Committee.

The Chair introduced those present and outlined the procedure to be followed.  The applicant, 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, highlighting that the applicant was first licensed with Middlesbrough Council in April 2024, with such licence expiring on 31 March 2025.

The applicant appeared before Members due to the conviction outlined at 1) in the submitted report.  It was noted that in March 2025, the applicant applied to renew his PHVDL for a period of one year, however, due to an issue with the electronic recording system within the Licensing Team, Officers were unable to retrieve previous renewal applications submitted by drivers.  To date, it had not been possible to retrieve the applicant’s renewal application, or its contents, from March 2025.

During a routine DVLA licence check on 28 March 2025, Licensing Officers discovered no endorsements at that time.  As all other application requirements had been met by the applicant, a PHVDL was issued for the period up to 31 March 2026.

On 19 April 2026, the applicant submitted a late application to renew such licence and had declared receiving six penalty points within his application submission.

Whilst carrying out a DVLA licence check on 20 April 2026, Officers noted the offence of using vehicle uninsured against third party risks (IN10) on 5 January 2025, for which the applicant had received six penalty points.  It also showed his driving licence was valid from 3 March 2026.  There was no record of the applicant having notified the Licensing Department about the motoring conviction at the time it had occurred.

The applicant was interviewed on 20 April 2026 and was asked to explain the circumstances of the conviction detailed at 1) in the report and to explain why he failed to notify the Licensing Department as required by condition of his licence.

The applicant provided an explanation in relation to the offence and stated that it had been a protracted process in relation to the fine and issue of penalty points and that he had declared the offence on his application form.

On 24 April 2026 a Licensing Officer contacted the applicant to ascertain why the applicant’s DVLA licence was only valid from 3 March 2026.  The applicant explained he had changed address, however, the Licensing Department had no record of this information being submitted which was a further breach of the conditions of his licence.

In addition, the Committee was also made aware of information received, on 22 September 2025, from Darlington Borough Council, showing a photograph of the applicant’s Private Hire Vehicle parked at the train station without his rear licence plate  ...  view the full minutes text for item 25/113

The Corporate Director of Regeneration and Housing submitted an exempt report in connection with the review of Private Hire Vehicle Driver Licence, Ref: 10/26, where circumstances had arisen which required special consideration by the Committee.

The Principal Licensing Officer advised the Committee that the driver was not in attendance, despite a hand-delivered letter inviting him to attend Committee being delivered to his home address.  In addition, the invitation letter had been emailed to the driver and several voice mails had been left for him.

The Council’s legal representative advised given that the driver had failed to attend despite numerous attempts made by Licensing Officers to contact the driver, to which he failed to respond, in the interests of public safety the Committee may wish to proceed in the driver’s absence.

The Committee subsequently unanimously agreed to proceed with hearing the matter in the driver’s absence.

The Principal Licensing Officer presented a summary of the report outlining that the driver had been licensed with Middlesbrough Council since September 2024 and that the purpose of the hearing was to review the driver’s licence following a complaint, dated 22 January 2026, from a licensed Private Hire Operator regarding his conduct.  A copy of the complaint was attached at Appendix 1.

The complainant stated that the Private Hire Operator would no longer allow the driver to work for their company due to his dishonesty and cited several incidents, full details of which were included in the report.  In summary the incidents were as follows:-

•         15 December 2025 – Driver failed to pay for fuel.  The garage contacted the Private Hire Operator who instructed the driver to return to pay, however, he failed to do so.

•         23 December 2025 – Driver failed to pay for fuel at a different garage.  The Private Hire Operator paid the amount and recharged the debt to the driver on this occasion.

•         5 January 2026 – School transport contract.  The driver falsely claimed to have transported a child to school despite the child not attending on that date.

•         27 August 2025 – NHS booking.  NHS contacted the Private Hire Operator to ascertain the whereabouts of a patient who had failed to attend an appointment.  When questioned, the driver stated he had dropped the patient off and this information was relayed to the NHS.  As the NHS were unable to locate the patient, they were reported as missing to the Police.  During interview with his Private Hire Operator, but only after he was made aware they had been reported missing to the Police, the driver admitted to lying about dropping off the patient so that he would be paid for the booking.

An investigation into the matters raised was undertaken by Licensing Officers, however, this was delayed until March 2026 due to heavy workloads.  A Licensing Officer initially attempted to contact the driver by phone on 11 March 2026 and left a voicemail requesting a call back as it was unanswered.

The same day the Licensing Officer  ...  view the full minutes text for item 25/114