Agenda item

The Corporate Director of Regeneration and Housing submitted an exempt report in connection with the review of Private Hire Vehicle Driver Licence, Ref: 3/26, where circumstances had arisen which required special consideration by the Committee.

 

The Chair introduced those present and outlined the procedure to be followed.  The driver, 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 updated the Committee that a Licensing Officer had contact the driver, via telephone, on 17 February 2026, in order to obtain clarification on several points raised during the driver’s interview (on 3 December 2025).  An email outlining that conversation and findings was sent to the Principal Licensing Officer and would be referred to in due course.  The Committee was advised that the driver had been provided with a copy of the email prior to today’s meeting and that a copy of the email would also be circulated to Members. 

 

The Principal Licensing Officer presented a summary of the report outlining that the driver had been licensed with Middlesbrough Council since March 2025.  His current licence was due to expire on 28 February 2026 and whilst he had applied to renew his licence, this had yet to be processed due to the current review.

 

The driver appeared before Members for review of his licence as a result of safeguarding concerns raised by the step-mother of a 16-year-old autistic female student following a journey on 25 November 2025 from her home address to a local college.

 

On 28 November 2025 the Licensing Department received a report from the driver’s operator notifying them of an incident on 25 November 2025 involving the student and the driver.  It was alleged that the driver made inappropriate sexual comments to the student during the journey and a copy of the report was attached at Appendix 1.

 

A Tutor at the college subsequently notified the Licensing Department of the incident, stating that a member of staff had overheard a conversation between the student and another student regarding the incident and had obtained an account from the student.  The Tutor provided an email on 3 December 2025 outlining the college’s findings.  A copy of the email was attached at Appendix 2.

 

The driver was interviewed by Licensing Officers in relation to the allegations on 3 December 2025.  A copy of the interview note was attached at Appendix 3.

 

On 17 December 2025, Officers obtained a statement from the student, in the presence of her step-mother, detailing her recollection of the incident.  A copy of the statement was attached at Appendix 4.  The witness and her step-mother had been invited to attend the Licensing Committee.

 

The report also outlined details of an incident on 6 November 2025 when Officers issued the driver with a warning following a complaint by a resident in relation to inappropriate parking on 13 September 2025.  The driver was also warned against his use of foul and abusive language to the complainant and a copy of the warning letter was attached at Appendix 5.

 

Reference was made to the email containing additional information following a Licensing Officer’s telephone conversation with the driver on 17 February 2026 and a copy was circulated to Members with time afforded to read it.  Clarification had been sought from the driver in relation to information he had provided during his interview, particularly in relation to safeguarding training and his use of facebook. 

 

It was confirmed that the driver had completed the required Barnardos safeguarding training in January 2025, however, during his interview when asked about vulnerable passengers he had stated that he could not recall the training particularly covering vulnerable young people in any detail.  The circulated email provided an outline of the content of the safeguarding training that the driver had completed in relation to young people. 

 

During the telephone conversation, the driver was reminded that during his interview he had stated he did not have a facebook account, however, an account linked to him had since been identified and he was asked why he had not disclosed this.  The driver stated he could not remember what he had said during the initial interview and must have forgotten about the account as he rarely used it and had now deleted the account due to friend requests from a number of strangers.

 

It was confirmed that there were no questions from Members on the report and the driver confirmed the content of the report as being an accurate representation of the facts.

 

At this point, the witness, accompanied by her grandmother, joined the meeting.  The Chair welcomed them to the meeting, made introductions, and explained the procedure to be followed.

 

The Chair invited the witness to provide her version of events in relation to the incident.  The witness provided her version of events and responded to a question from a Member.  The driver was afforded the opportunity to ask questions of the witness and confirmed he had no questions.

 

The Chair thanked the witness and her grandmother for attending and they left the meeting at this point.

 

The driver was asked to present his case in support of the review and provided his version of events in relation to the incident.  The driver responded to questions from Members and the Council’s Legal Representative.

 

It was confirmed that there were no further questions and the driver, 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 review. 

 

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 Private Hire Vehicle Driver Licence, Ref No: 3/26, be retained, as follows:-

 

Authority to act

 

1.      Under Section 61 of the Local Government Miscellaneous Provisions Act 1976 (“the Act”) the Committee may revoke or suspend a Private Hire Vehicle/Hackney Carriage driver’s licence on the grounds that:

 

-          Since the grant of the licence the driver had been convicted of an offence involving dishonesty, indecency or violence;

-          Since the grant of the licence the driver had committed an offence or breached the Act or the Town Police Clauses Act 1847;

-          for any other reasonable cause. 

 

2.      The Committee considered Section 61 of the Act, the Middlesbrough Council Private Hire and Hackney Carriage Policy 2022 (“the Policy”), the report and representations made by the driver and the student (complainant).

 

3.      The review of the licence was considered on its own particular facts and on its merits.

 

Decision

 

4.      After carefully considering all the information, the Licensing Committee decided, on this occasion, to permit the driver to keep his licence.

 

Reasons

 

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

 

6.      The Policy stated that the Council could consider circumstances of concern even though a conviction had not been obtained or the conduct did not amount to a criminal offence.

 

7.      The driver had been licensed as Private Hire Vehicle driver since 13 March 2025, with the licence expiring on 28 February 2026.  An application to renew the licence was made by the driver but this was on hold pending the outcome of this licence review.

 

8.      On 28 November 2025, Licensing Officers received a report from the driver’s operator (Complaints Team) notifying them of an incident on 25 November 2025 involving a student and the driver.  It was alleged that the driver had made inappropriate sexual comments to the student during a journey.

 

9.      Licensing Officers contacted the student’s college tutor to enquire as to whether the College was aware of the allegation.  The tutor advised that a member of staff had overheard a conversation between the student and another student about the allegation and that staff had intervened and obtained an account from the student.

 

10.  The driver was interviewed on 3 December 2025 and completely denied the allegations.  A full summary of the interview was annexed to the report.

 

11.  On 17 December 2025, Licensing Officers obtained a statement from the student, in the presence of her stepmother (appropriate adult) detailing her recollection of the incident.

 

12.  At Committee, the student attended, alongside her grandmother and gave evidence.  In essence, the student repeated the assertions made in her statement of 17 December 2025.

 

13.  The driver refuted the allegations and stated that he recalled a journey whereby the student had got into his taxi on a rainy day.  He stated that the student had put her feet up on the chair and he subsequently asked them to remove them as it would make a mess of the seats.  The driver stated that he believed the student took a disliking to him following this.

 

14.  The driver informed the Committee that he had only received one minor complaint in the past for which he was warned, as detailed in the report, and explained that the resident in question was abusive to him whilst his child was in the car.  The driver stated he used foul language in response to the resident.

 

15.  The driver informed the Committee that he had near enough full stars on his operator’s driving app since he started driving with them and this included many instances of positive feedback.

 

16.  The Committee considered all the information before them and the verbal accounts provided by the student and the driver.

 

Following consideration of all the evidence, the Committee deemed that the driver was a fit and proper person and that he should retain his licence.