Agenda item

The Director of Adult Social Care and Health Integration submitted an exempt report in connection with an application for a Combined Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Vehicle Driver Licence, Ref: 09/22, 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 that he had received a copy of the report and understood its contents. 

 

The Licensing Manager presented a summary of the report.  The driver was first licensed with Middlesbrough Council in November 2021 when he was granted a licence by the Committee after considering the offences detailed at 1) to 3) in the report.  A copy of the report that was considered by that Committee was attached at Appendix 1 for information.  The licence was subsequently revoked by Members in July 2017 following the conviction dated at 4) in the report.

 

The applicant now appeared before Members with a fresh application for a Combined Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Vehicle Driver licence.

 

The applicant was interviewed by a Licensing Enforcement Officer on 4 August 2022 when he confirmed his previous explanations for the offences at 1) to 4) in the report.

 

The applicant confirmed that the report was an accurate representation of the facts and was invited to address the Committee in support of his application.  The applicant addressed the Committee and responded to questions from Members 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, 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 Combined Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Vehicle Driver licence be refused for the following reasons:-

 

Authority to Act

 

1.       Under Section 51 of the Local Government Miscellaneous Provisions Act 1976 (“the Act”) the Committee may decide to grant a combined hackney carriage and 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, 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 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 of the information the Licensing Committee decided to refuse to grant the application for a combined hackney carriage 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 had four convictions in 1997, three related to driving offences and one of robbery.  However, after hearing the applicant’s representations a Licensing Committee granted the applicant a private hire vehicle driver’s licence on 26 November 2001.

 

6.       The applicant was then convicted of inflicting grievous bodily harm on 27 January 2017 and his licence was revoked on 10 July 2017 by the Licensing Committee.

 

7.       The applicant was sentenced to 12 months imprisonment, suspended for two years, and ordered to carry out 150 hours of unpaid work.  The sentence was completed on 26 January 2019 when the suspended sentence expired.  Therefore, only three and a half years had expired since completion of the sentence.

 

8.       The circumstances of the offence involved the applicant inflicting serious injury to his passenger who was aged 18 and alone when the incident occurred. The applicant was a Middlesbrough licensed driver in a position of trust whilst carrying out a private hire journey in a licensed vehicle.

 

9.       In summary, the applicant explained he was very remorseful and sorry for the conviction, he did not intend to cause harm or commit violence and he reacted to passengers’ provocation.  The applicant stated that he had tried to better himself as a result of his conviction and learn from his mistakes. The applicant stated he had undergone many training courses, and had worked his way up in his employment to manage staff and deal with vulnerable people in pressurised situations.  The applicant explained he wanted his licence as he was a licensed proprietor to be able to assist his friend who currently drove his vehicle.

 

10.    However, the conviction showed the applicant unlawfully and maliciously inflicted serious injury to his passenger.

 

11.    The Policy which came into force in 2019 stated that licensees were in an extreme position of trust, had close regular contact with customers and a person who responded with violence when provoked was not suitable to be granted a licence. 

 

12.    The applicant did exactly that, he acted with serious violence when he stated he was provoked by a passenger.  It was not self-defence and there were no other defences as a criminal court found after assessing the evidence that the applicant was guilty. The Committee could not and would not go behind that conviction.

 

13.    The Policy stated a firm line was to be taken with those who had convictions for offences of violence or had been involved in violent acts. 

 

14.    The Policy stated a period of at least ten years free of conviction should have elapsed for offences listed or similar offences.  Example offences listed included: grievous bodily harm with intent, possession of weapons, actual bodily harm which was racially aggravated, violent disorder, common assault which was racially aggravated and any similar offences.  The Policy then stated that a period of five years should have elapsed for a single offence of affray, racially aggravated criminal damage or similar offences, and then three years for lower type assault and public order and similar offences.

 

15.    The Government’s Statutory Minimum Standards came into force on 21 July 2020 to try to uplift standards and ensure passenger and public safety.  The Minimum Standards confirmed that taxis and private hire were a high risk environment. It stated that there should be an incident-free period of at least ten years for applicants who had been convicted of an offence involving violence against the person.

 

16.    The applicant represented that the offence should not be treated as serious as it was reduced from GBH with intent (S18 Offences against the Person Act) to Inflicting GBH (Section 20 of that Act) by the Judge.  However, the Committee did consider it to be serious as it was still proved the applicant unlawfully and maliciously inflicted serious injury to his passenger whilst in a position of trust.

 

17.    The purpose of regulating the taxi and private hire trade was to ensure passengers were safe and not assaulted or injured by licensees in a position of trust but the applicant seriously breached this fundamental requirement.

 

18.    Therefore, despite the applicant’s representations about learning from his mistakes, his employment and positive references, the Committee must protect the travelling public and insufficient time had passed to ensure this in accordance with the Policy and the Government’s Statutory Minimum Standards.

 

19.    The Committee cannot be satisfied the applicant was fit and proper in accordance with the Policy and Government Standards and there were no good reasons to depart from those requirements.

 

20.    If the applicant was aggrieved by the decision they may appeal to a Magistrates Court within 21 days from the date of the notice of the decision. The local magistrates for the area is the Teesside Justice Centre, Teesside Magistrates, Victoria Square, Middlesbrough.

 

21.    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.