Agenda item

The Director of Environment and Community Services submitted an exempt report in connection with an application for a Private Hire Vehicle Driver Licence, Ref: 15/25, 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 Manager presented a summary of the report stating that the applicant appeared before Members due to the conviction listed in the submitted report and it was highlighted that he had failed to declare the conviction in his application.

 

The applicant was interviewed by a Licensing Officer on 3 April 2025 when he provided an explanation of the circumstances regarding his conviction and confirmed that there were no outstanding matters of which the Council was unaware.

 

A character reference in support of the applicant was attached at Appendix 1.

 

Licensing Officers made enquiries with Trading Standards Officers in relation to the circumstances surrounding the legal proceedings taken against the applicant in relation to the offences and conviction recorded against him.  Appendix 2 was an account of the dealings Trading Standards Officers’ had in relation to the matter.

 

The applicant confirmed the content of the report as being an accurate representation of the facts and was invited to address the Committee in support of his application.

 

The applicant addressed the Committee in support of his application and responded to questions from Members of the Committee and the Council’s Legal Representative.

 

It was confirmed that there were no further questions and the applicant, and Officers of the Council, other than representatives of the Council’s Legal and Democratic Services teams, withdrew from the meeting whilst the Committee determined the application. 

 

Subsequently, all parties returned, and the Chair announced a summary of the Committee’s decision and highlighted that the applicant would receive the full decision and reasons within five working days.

 

ORDERED that the application for a Private Hire Vehicle Driver Licence, Ref No: 15/25, be refused, as follows:-

 

Authority to Act

 

1.     Under Section 51 of the Local Government Miscellaneous Provisions Act 1976 (“the Act”) the Committee may decide to grant a Private Hire Vehicle driver’s licence only if it was satisfied the driver was a fit and proper person to be granted such a licence.

 

2.     The Committee considered Section 51 of the Act, the Middlesbrough Council Private Hire and Hackney Carriage Policy 2022 (“the Policy”), the report and representations made by the applicant.

 

3.     The application was considered on its own particular facts and on its merits.

 

Decision

 

4.     After carefully considering all the information, the Licensing Committee decided to refuse to grant the application for a Private Hire Vehicle driver’s licence on the grounds that the Committee was not satisfied the applicant was a fit and proper person to be granted the licence.  The reasons for the decision were as follows:-

 

Reasons

 

5.     The applicant was convicted on 22 December 2017 of the following offences:

 

1. 3 x Possess goods with false trademark for sale or hire on 5 August 2016. Trade Marks Act 1994 S 92(1)+S.92(6).
2. Distributor Expose/Possess for Offer/Agree/Supply a dangerous product to any person on 5 August 2016. General Product Safety Regulations 2005 S 8(1)(A).

 

6.     For the offences, the applicant was sentenced, in total, to a 12-month Community Order running until 21 December 2018, 120 hours unpaid work, £85 Victim surcharge, £400 costs and forfeiture and destruction of cigarettes.

 

7.     The Policy on convictions were set out at Appendix G, Policy on the Relevance of Convictions, Cautions, Reprimands, Warnings, Complaints and Character.

 

8.     The Policy was clear, it stated that a licensed Private Hire driver was expected to be a trustworthy person and a serious view was taken of any conviction for dishonesty.  In general, for an isolated conviction for any offence where dishonesty was an element of the offence, a licence would not be granted until at least seven years had elapsed since the completion of any sentence imposed.

 

9.     The Policy further stated that a licence would normally be refused if an applicant had been convicted of a serious offence involving dishonesty or had more than one conviction for a dishonesty offence, showing they were likely to be continually dishonest, regardless of the time elapsed since the conviction or completion of the sentence imposed.

 

10.  During the application process, the applicant failed to disclose the aforementioned convictions.

 

11.  The applicant was interviewed by a Licensing Enforcement Officer on 3 April 2025.  During interview, the applicant stated he did not know, at the time, it was an offence to sell counterfeit cigarettes, he did not know the owner of the shop and he now understood that the sale of illicit and illegal products was a criminal offence.

 

12.  The applicant further stated that he was helped through his application by his prospective employer and that he did not understand the question about convictions.  The Licensing Officer further questioned the applicant about his lack of understanding of the declaration as to previous convictions in the application form and whether he had asked staff at the prospective employer to help him. The applicant offered no explanation in response to the Officer’s question.

 

13.  The Committee heard from the applicant, during the hearing, that he genuinely thought it was okay to sell the products.  The applicant explained that he wanted to obtain a licence to improve his quality of life.

 

14.  The Committee did not look favourably on the applicant’s failure to declare his previous convictions on the application form and also determined that the offence was at least an offence with an element of dishonesty.

 

15.  In line with the Policy on relevant convictions, and when applying this to the facts, at a minimum, the relevant period for the applicant to remain conviction free would end in December 2025.

 

16.  It was noted, however, in its decision, the Committee gave consideration to whether the offence was one of serious dishonesty.

 

17.  Notwithstanding, the Committee’s decision to refuse to grant the licence was in accordance with the Policy and the Committee considered there were no good or exceptional reasons to depart from it on this occasion.

 

18.  The Committee, for the reasons above, could not be satisfied the applicant was a fit and proper person or safe and suitable to be licenced as a Private Hire Vehicle driver in Middlesbrough.

 

19.  If the applicant was aggrieved by the decision he may appeal to a Magistrates Court within 21 days from the date of the notice of the decision.  The local Magistrates for the area was Teesside Justice Centre, Teesside Magistrates Court, Victoria Square, Middlesbrough, TS1 2AS.

 

20.  If the applicant did appeal the decision and the appeal was dismissed by the Magistrates Court, the Council would claim its costs in defending its decision from the applicant which could be in the region of £1,000.

 

** At this point in the meeting, Councillors Livingstone and Romaine returned.