Agenda and draft minutes

Licensing Committee - Monday 3rd February, 2025 1.00 pm

Venue: Mandela Room

Contact: Joanne Dixon / Scott Bonner 

Items
No. Item

24/57

Declarations of Interest

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest received at this point in the meeting.

24/58

Minutes - Licensing Committee - 13 January 2025 pdf icon PDF 131 KB

Minutes:

The minutes of the Licensing meeting held on 13 January 2025 were submitted and approved as a correct record.

 

24/59

Update - Licensing Appeals

The Licensing Manager will provide a verbal update, if applicable, on any licensing appeals that have been made since the last meeting of the Committee.

Minutes:

There were no updates to be provided.

24/60

Any other urgent items which in the opinion of the Chair, may be considered.

Minutes:

None.

24/61

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.

 

24/62

Application for Renewal of Private Hire Vehicle Driver Licence Ref: - 2/25

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Director of Environment and Community Services submitted an exempt report in connection with an application to renew a Private Hire Vehicle Driver Licence, Ref: 02/25, 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 Licensing Officer presented a summary of the report outlining that the applicant appeared before Members as a result of the offence detailed at 1) and 2) of the report. Members were advised the offences related to the same incident.

 

Members were advised the report was for an application to renew a Private Hire Vehicle Driver Licence. The applicant was first licensed by the Council as a private hire driver on 13 February 2024, with such licence expiring on 31 January 2025

 

On 20th December 2024, a licensing officer carried out a routine check on the status of the applicant’s DVLA driving licence which revealed two motoring convictions, resulting in 8 penalty points being endorsed on his driving licence

 

The Licensing Officer summarised the report advising the applicant was interviewed by a Licensing Officer on 17 January 2025 during which the applicant described how the offences were related to an incident when he was employed by a bus company. During the interview the applicant stated that on 6 June 2024, at around 11.00am an incident had occurred resulting in a cyclist falling off their bike at the traffic lights at the junction of Longlands Road. The traffic lights were on green, and the applicant saw a cyclist on his left after a lady had just crossed. The cyclist did not stop, and instead started to cross the road in front of him and was not looking out for traffic.

 

The applicant stated he was in the left lane at the time, and he had been trained to avoid wherever possible as an emergency stop could potentially injure passengers. To avoid the cyclist the applicant started to pull into the ‘right only’ lane whilst braking as hard as he could without doing an emergency stop. Unfortunately, he hit the front wheel of the bike, causing the cyclist to fall off. By the time he had stopped his bus, he had gone through the traffic lights which had changed to green by then.

 

While an ambulance was called the cyclist suffered no injuries but was taken to hospital as a precaution. Two passengers on the bus stated the accident was not the applicant’s fault and was unavoidable. However, the applicant was prosecuted for going through a red light (3 penalty points) and for driving without due care and attention (5 penalty points).

 

When the case went to Court, the witnesses were not present. The applicant’s solicitor tried to contact them but was unsuccessful. The Magistrate was sympathetic to the applicant’s case and said he could  ...  view the full minutes text for item 24/62

24/63

Application for Private Hire Vehicle Driver Licence Ref:- 3/25

Minutes:

The Director of Environment and Community Services submitted an exempt report in connection with an application for a Private Hire Vehicle Driver Licence, Ref: 03/25, 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, and accompanied by a friend, verified his name and address and confirmed he had received a copy of the report and understood its contents.

 

The Licensing Officer presented a summary of the report outlining that the Applicant appeared before Members as a result of his licence being previously revoked.

 

The Applicant had previously held a Private Hire Vehicle Driver Licence with Wolverhampton Council from 15 September 2022 until 31 August 2023 when it was revoked with immediate effect.

 

The Licensing Officer presented the report advising the committee that the Applicant had applied to Middlesbrough Council for a Private Hire Vehicle Driver Licence on 5th September 2024.

 

Upon receipt of the application, a Middlesbrough Licensing Officer carried out a routine check on the National Register (NR3S) of revocations and refusals of hackney carriage and private hire drivers’ licences. That check revealed an entry made by Wolverhampton Council confirming an action taken to revoke a Driver Licence held by the Applicant. 

 

In view of such information being revealed, on 17th October 2024 a Licensing Officer contacted Wolverhampton Council Licensing Section requesting further information regarding the circumstances that led to their decision to revoke the Applicant’s driver licence. Along with his enquiry, the officer also requested whether Wolverhampton Council had received any complaints regarding the Applicant.

 

On 1st November 2024, the Licensing Officer received an email reply from

Wolverhampton Council Licensing Section confirming that a hearing review had taken place with Wolverhampton Council with the involvement of the Applicant’s employer.

 

The Licensing officer stated that on 18 June 2023 at approximately 3:00am a female had got into the Applicant’s taxi as a front seat passenger. The passenger stated she would pay for her journey upon arrival as she did not have her money or her phone with her. During the journey the passenger alleged the Applicant made inappropriate comments and sexually assaulted her. 

 

The Committee was also advised that the decision of Wolverhampton review panel found the application had collected the passenger without a prior booking.

 

Members were also advised the Applicant admitted to picking up the passenger without a prior booking but strongly denied the allegations of sexual assault and that he collected the passenger without prior booking, as she appeared to be in distress.

 

The Applicant confirmed that the report was an accurate representation of the facts and was invited to address the Committee.

The Applicant, accompanied by his friend, spoke in support of the application and responded to questions from Members of the Committee, the Council’s legal representative and the Licensing Officer.

 

It was confirmed that there were no further questions and the Applicant, his friend, and Officers of the Council, other than  ...  view the full minutes text for item 24/63