Agenda and draft minutes

You are invited to declare any registerable and/or non-registerable interests in matters appearing on the agenda, and the nature of that interest.

You are also invited to disclose any dispensation in relation to any registerable and/or non-registerable interests that have been granted to you in respect of any matters appearing on the agenda.

Please complete the Declarations of Interests card available at the meeting and return it to the Democratic Services Officer before leaving the meeting.

There were no declarations of interest or dispensations reported.

The Committee will be requested to pass the following resolution:

Resolved that under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended) and having applied a public interest test as defined in Part 2 of Schedule 12A of the Act, the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following item of business on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraph 1 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Act.

Resolved that the exclusion resolution be passed.

The Committee received a report by the Senior Client Manager, Technical Services which outlined the background to an appeal by Mr F against the decision of the Authority to refuse to grant his Combined Hackney Carriage/Private Hire Driver’s Licence on the grounds that it was not satisfied that he was a fit and proper person to hold this licence.

Mr F attended the meeting.

A Licensing Officer presented the report to the Committee which included information on Mr F’s application, his criminal and licensing record with the Authority and the reason for the refusal.  The appeal form was included in the papers.

Mr F and the Committee were given the opportunity to ask questions of the Licensing Officer. 

Mr F then addressed the Committee.  The Licensing officer and Members were given the opportunity to ask questions of Mr F.

Following a summing up from the Licensing Officer and Mr L, both parties left the meeting to enable consideration of the matter to be undertaken in private.

The options available to the Committee were to:

a)    Uphold the appeal and agree to grant the licence; or

b)    Dismiss the appeal and refuse to grant the licence.

The Committee considered that it was an established principle that a licence was a privilege and not a right and its main concern was the need to maintain high standards amongst licensed drivers and to ensure the protection of the travelling public.

Resolved that Mr F’s appeal be dismissed and his application for a Combined Hackney Carriage/Private Hire Driver’s be refused on the grounds the Committee was not satisfied that he was a fit and proper person to hold a licence.

The Committee was informed that this case had been withdrawn.