Venue: Council Chamber
Contact: Joanne Dixon / Scott Bonner
No. | Item |
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Declarations of Interest Minutes: There were
no declarations of interest received at this point in the meeting. |
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Minutes of the previous Licensing Committee held on 29 November 2021 PDF 179 KB Minutes: The minutes of the Licensing Committee meeting held on 29 November 2021 were submitted and approved as a correct record. |
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Exclusion of Press and Public 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. Minutes: 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. |
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Review of a Private Hire Vehicle Driver Licence Ref:- 12/21 Minutes: 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: 12/21, 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 that he had received a copy of the report and understood its
contents. The Licensing Manager presented a summary of the
report. It was highlighted that the
driver was first licensed with Middlesbrough Council in November 2015 had no
previous convictions recorded. The driver appeared before Committee for review of his
licence following information received from Stockton Council regarding CCTV
footage of an incident on 11 November 2021 involving the driver. The CCTV Control Room had been monitoring a
male making repairs to his vehicle in a residential street, when a second male
was identified to be dealing drugs to the taxi driver. The driver was interviewed by a Licensing Enforcement
Officer on 25 November 2021 where he was shown the CCTV footage and asked to
explain the circumstances. The driver
provided an explanation of events and stated that he had earlier picked up the
male as a passenger in his vehicle and dropped him off at the location shown in
the footage, however, the driver had no change for the fare and stated he had
continued to drive to a convenience store further down the road to obtain some
change and had driven back to provide the passenger with the change and that
this was the transaction taking place in the footage. The driver confirmed that it was his vehicle
in the footage and that he was the driver. The driver’s Private Hire Operator confirmed that there was
no record of a booking for the journey that the driver stated had taken place
and whilst the driver denied any involvement in drugs, he did admit to
illegally plying for hire. A copy of the
Operator’s booking records for the driver were attached at Appendix 1. The driver was interviewed in accordance with
PACE in relation to the illegal plying for hire and a copy of the transcript of
the interview was attached at Appendix 2. A copy of the motor insurance certificate covering the
vehicle shown in the CCTV footage on 11 November 2021 was provided by the
driver’s Operator and was attached at Appendix 3. As the plying for hire took place in Stockton, all of the
relevant information had been referred to Stockton Council for them to consider
enforcement action against the driver. During the driver’s interview with the Licensing Enforcement
Officer on 25 November 2021, he agreed to undertake a drug detection test. A copy of the test results were attached at
Appendix 4 and showed the driver had tested negative. In addition, Council records showed that in July 2020, information was received from Cleveland Police stating that the driver was ... view the full minutes text for item 21/43 |
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Review of Combined Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Vehicle Driver Licence Ref:- 13/21 Minutes: The Committee was informed that the driver had contacted the
Licensing Office prior to the meeting to advise that he was unable to attend
due to illness. ORDERED that consideration of the review of Combined Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Vehicle Driver Licence, Ref No: 13/21, be deferred to the next meeting of the Licensing Committee on 10 January 2022 to allow the driver a further opportunity to attend. |
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Application for Reinstatement of a Private Hire Vehicle Driver Licence Ref:- 14/21 Minutes: The Director of Adult Social Care and Health Integration
submitted an exempt report in connection with an application to reinstate
Private Hire Vehicle Driver Licence, Ref: 14/21, 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 that he had received a copy of the report and understood its
contents. The Licensing Manager presented a summary of the report in
relation to the application to reinstate the driver’s Private Hire Vehicle
driver’s licence. It was highlighted that the driver first appeared before
Members in August 2015 when Members granted him a Private Hire Vehicle driver
licence after considering the offence detailed at 1) in the report. The driver’s latest licence was currently
suspended and was due to expire on 31 August 2022. The applicant now appeared before Members to consider the
reinstatement of his licence which was suspended with immediate effect by the
Licensing Manager on 10 March 2020 following information received from
Cleveland Police. On 9 March 2020 information was received from Cleveland
Police that the driver had been arrested for the alleged offence of ‘Kidnap’
and ‘Sexual Assault on a Female’ and that he was released under investigation
whilst enquiries were ongoing. The Licensing Managed contacted the driver in relation to
the matter on 10 March 2020 when he explained the circumstances of the
allegations. A record of this
conversation was attached at Appendix 1. Also on 10 March 2020, the Licensing Manager suspended the
driver’s licence with immediate effect until such time as the matter was
investigated by the Police and referred to the Licensing Committee for Members
to determine the status of his licence. On 2 October 2020, Cleveland Police confirmed that no
further action would be taken against the driver in relation, however, the
Licensing Manager advised that the reason for the delay in bringing the matter
to Committee was due to difficulties in obtaining additional information from
Cleveland Police. The information was
eventually provided on 9 December 2021 and was provided at Appendix 4. In relation to the offence detailed at 1) in the report, it
was noted that the driver was interviewed by a Licensing Enforcement Officer on
5 November 2020 when he provided an explanation in relation to the offence and
also confirmed his previous explanations for two previous warnings issued to
him. Copies of the warnings issued in
January and November 2018 were attached at Appendix 2 and Appendix 3
respectively. The driver also provided
his version of events in relation to the incident on 6 March 2020. The driver confirmed that the report was an accurate
representation of the facts and was invited to address the Committee. The driver presented his case and responded
to questions from Members, the Licensing Manager and the Council’s legal
representative. It was confirmed that there were no further questions and driver and Officers of the ... view the full minutes text for item 21/45 |