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 Council, other than representatives of the Council’s
Legal and Democratic Services, withdrew from the meeting whilst the Committee
determined the application for reinstatement.
Subsequently, all parties returned and the Chair announced a
summary of the Committee’s decision and highlighted that the driver would
receive the full decision and reasons within five working days.
ORDERED that Private Hire Vehicle Driver Licence, Ref 14/21 be reinstated, as follows:-
Authority to Act
1.
The Committee considered Section 61 of the Local
Government Miscellaneous Provisions Act (“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 report and the
representations made by the driver.
2.
The driver appeared before the Licensing
Committee to consider the reinstatement of his licence following a suspension
with immediate effect by the Licensing manager on 10 March 2020 following
information received from the Police
Decision
3.
After carefully considering all of the
information and considering the review on its own merits the Committee decided
to reinstate the private hire vehicle driver’s licence with the following
conditions:-
a) The driver would receive a warning as to his
future conduct.
b) The driver was required to attend the
Licensing Office to receive updated training on the code of conduct of drivers.
Reasons
4.
The Committee carefully considered the review
based upon the report and appendices, the representations of the driver,
information from Cleveland Police and Middlesbrough Council’s Private Hire and
Hackney Carriage Licencing Policy 2019.
The matter was considered on its own merits.
5.
The driver appeared before the Licensing
Committee as a result of information received from Cleveland Police and
subsequent unsuccessful attempts by the Licensing Department to obtain further
information from Cleveland Police.
6.
The driver accepted his actions were
inappropriate and against policy and the code of conduct. Additionally, the
driver had been licensed since 2015 with no relevant issues to the matter in
hand, which would indicate cause for concern.
7.
The evidence provided to the Police was
questionable and they deemed the matter of insufficient seriousness to bring
charges against the driver and there were issues surrounding the credibility of
the witness.
8. For these reasons the Committee reinstated the drivers licence with the conditions attached as outlined above.
Supporting documents: