Any other urgent items which, in the opinion of the Chair, may be considered.
Minutes:
REVIEW – COMBINED HACKNEY CARRIAGE AND PRIVATE HIRE VEHICLE DRIVER
LICENCE – REF NO: 06/20
With the permission
of the Chair, the Licensing Manager submitted information for consideration by
the Committee that required an urgent decision.
The Licensing Manager
informed Members that, under the Notifiable Occupation Scheme, on 8 December
2020, Cleveland Police had notified the Licensing Office that the driver had
been arrested for the alleged
offences of ‘facilitate the acquisition/acquire/possess criminal property’,
possession of a controlled drug – class B – cannabis resin’ and possessing
controlled drug with intent to supply – class A – other, and that he had been
released under investigation.
Background
information relating to the circumstances leading to the driver’s arrest were
provided to the Committee, including further information provided by the Police
on 14 December 2020 and verbal representations made by the driver.
The Committee was
advised that the driver had appeared before Members on 25 July 2015 for
consideration of his licence application.
Member’s considered his offence for possession of a controlled drug –
Class B – Cannabis. On that occasion,
Members decided to depart from the Licensing Policy due to exceptional
circumstances and granted his licence.
The Licensing
Manager and Principal Licensing Officer responded to questions from Members and
the Council’s legal representative.
It was confirmed
that there were no further questions and the Licensing Manager and Principal
Licensing Officer withdrew from the meeting whilst the Committee determined the
review.
Subsequently, all interested parties returned and the Chair announced the Committee’s decision.
ORDERED that Combined Hackney Carriage and Private
Hire Vehicle Driver Licence, Ref 06/20 be revoked with immediate effect.
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/hackney carriage
vehicle driver’s licence on the grounds that:-
2. Under
Section 61(2B) of the Act, if it appeared to be in the interests of public
safety, the Committee could decide that the revocation was to have immediate
effect.
3. The
Committee considered Section 61 of the Act, Policy Guidance to Applicants,
Licensed Drivers and Members of the Licensing Committee which came into force
on 1 November 2019 (“the Policy”), the representations from the Police, the
operator and the driver.
4. The
review of the licence was considered on its own particular facts and on its
merits.
Decision
5. After
carefully considering all of the information the Licensing Committee decided to
revoke the driver’s Combined Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Vehicle driver’s
licence on the grounds of any other reasonable cause. It decided that the revocation was to have
immediate effect in the interests of public safety under section 61(2B) of the
Act.
Reasons
6.
In the interests of public safety the matter was
tabled as an urgent item before the Committee.
In view of the urgency the driver was not invited to attend the
Committee but his verbal representations made to the Licensing Officer were
considered by the Committee.
7. The
Police had informed Licensing Officers on 8 December 2020 that the driver had
been arrested on 7 December 2020 for the alleged offences of ‘Facilitate the
acquisition/acquire/possess criminal property’, ‘Possess controlled drug-class
B – cannabis/cannabis resin’ and ‘Possessing controlled drug w/I to supply –
class A – other’. The Police in the
letter stated that the circumstances are that Police carried out a Section 18
search of the driver’s address and a large amount of cash was found also an
amount of drugs, multiple phones and credit cards in numerous names.
8.
Attempts were made by the Licensing Officers to
contact the driver on 11 December 2020 which was successful and on the 14
December 2020 at 11.50am and 12.30pm, when messages were left and no calls were
returned.
9.
On 11 December 2020 the driver informed the
Licensing Officer by telephone that he wished for a fair opportunity to
continue to work whilst the Police investigated the matter and as there were
other people in the house at the time of the search which also lead to the
arrest of his brother, he didn’t believe he should take responsibility for the
actions of others.
10. The
driver confirmed to the Officer that cannabis had been found in his vehicle and
that it had belonged to his friend. He
also confirmed that Police had found £400 on his person which he stated was
‘cash in hand’ from his taxi work. The
driver also stated that the Police reference to Class A drugs related to ‘cream
chargers’ (nitrous oxide) which could be bought on the internet.
11. The
Operator confirmed that the driver had last worked for them on 23 October 2020
which contradicted the amount of cash in the taxi claimed to be takings. However, the Committee noted that the driver
was also a Hackney Carriage driver and such work would not be logged by the
Operator.
12. The
Police further confirmed verbally to the Licensing Officer that there was a
report of four males sitting in a taxi smoking cannabis and taking nitrous
oxide, that cannabis was found in his taxi and a sum of £500 cash was found.
13. The
Committee noted that on 25 July 2016, the driver’s application for a licence
was put before Committee because of a conviction for possession of cannabis on
14 December 2015. At that time the
Committee decided to depart from the Council’s Policy and grant the application
for a combined Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Vehicle driver’s licence
giving him the benefit of the doubt.
14. The Policy stated an isolated conviction,
caution, reprimand or final warning issued for a drug related non-driving
offence should be required to show a period of at least three years free of
incident before an application was considered.
It stated if the conviction, caution, reprimand, etc related to the
supply or possession with intention to supply or the production of controlled
drugs, or if an applicant had more than one conviction for drugs then an
application would be refused irrespective of the time passed. This was because of the drug problems in
Middlesbrough and the risk to the public.
15. The Policy stated, if a driver was arrested
or charged with an offence, depending on the severity of the risk to the
public, they should expect to have their licence suspended or revoked. If there
was a risk to public safety that suspension or revocation may have immediate
effect.
16. The Committee noted that current Case
Authority stated that a suspension could not be used as an interim measure and
it was a final sanction imposed in response to an act or incident. Therefore, the Committee could not suspend
the licence whilst investigations were being carried out by the Police.
17. The driver had been arrested for three
offences relating to drugs - drugs were found in the driver’s taxi, a report
was made that people were smoking cannabis and taking nitrous oxide in the
taxi; the Police found sufficient drugs and other paraphernalia linked to the
drugs trade including a large amount of cash and credit cards in different
names in the driver’s home to warrant an arrest for an offence of possession
with the intent to supply class A drugs.
In view of the above, although the driver was still under investigation,
the Committee decided it must revoke the Combined Hackney Carriage and Private
Hire Vehicle driver’s licence in order to protect the public. The driver’s previous conviction for
possession of cannabis supported the decision.
18. The Committee considered that it was
extremely dangerous to passengers and other road users if a driver was involved
in drugs or associated with drug takers.
There was a risk of the driver being under the influence of drugs whilst
carrying passengers or driving. The risk
to the drug problem in Middlesbrough was serious in that drugs can be supplied
or transported under the guise of a legitimate taxi. Also there was a risk to the public if a
driver was associated with drug users or people in the drugs trade.
19. The representations did not lower the threat
to the public, nor were they credible, especially the explanation that the
nitrous oxide was legitimate. There were
sufficient drugs and other items found for the Police to make the arrests for
the three offences.
20. In view of the above reasons the Committee
considered there to be a serious risk to public safety and therefore the
revocation was to have immediate effect.
Appeal
21.
If
the driver was aggrieved by the decision he may appeal to the Teesside Justice
Centre, Teesside Magistrates, Victoria Square, Middlesbrough within 21 days
from the date of the notice of the decision.
If the driver 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 driver which could be in the region in excess of £750.