Meeting documents

Chairman: Councillor K Vickers
Venue: Church Square House, 30-40 High Street, Scunthorpe
Time: 10.00 am
E-mail Address: matthew.nundy@northlincs.gov.uk

AGENDA

1. Substitutions.
2. Declarations of Disclosable Pecuniary Interests and Personal or Personal and Prejudicial Interests, and significant contact with Applicants, Objectors or Third Parties (Lobbying), if any.
3. To take the minutes of the meetings held on 14 March, 28 March and 28 April 2019 as a correct record and authorise the chairman to sign.
4. Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976 - Town Police Clauses Act 1847 - Review of a Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Vehicle Drivers Licence.
5. Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976 - Application for a Private Hire Vehicle Drivers Licence.
6. Any other items that the chairman decides are urgent by reason of special circumstances that must be specified.

The public are likely to be excluded from the meeting for consideration of the following item on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph 1 and 2 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended).

7. Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976 - Town Police Clauses Act 1847 - Application to Renew a Hackney Carriage Vehicle Drivers Licence.

MINUTES

PRESENT: – Councillor K Vickers in the Chair.

Councillors P Vickers (Vice-Chair), Rayner, Swift and Wells.

The sub-committee met at Church Square House, Scunthorpe.

1615 DECLARATIONS OF DISCLOSABLE PECUNIARY INTERESTS, PERSONAL OR PERSONAL AND PREJUDICIAL INTERESTS AND SIGNIFICANT CONTACT WITH APPLICANTS, OBJECTORS OR THIRD PARTIES (LOBBYING) - There were no declarations of disclosable pecuniary interests and personal or personal and prejudicial interests.

No lobbying was declared.

1616 MINUTES – Resolved – That the minutes of the proceedings of this committee held on 14 March, 28 March and 18 April 2019, having been printed and circulated amongst the members, be taken as read and correctly recorded and signed by the chairman.

1617 LOCAL GOVERNMENT (MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS) ACT 1976 – TOWN POLICE CLAUSES ACT 1847 – REVIEW OF A HACKNEY CARRIAGE & PRIVATE HIRE VEHICLE DRIVERS LICENCE – The Director: Operations submitted a report advising members of an application for the review of a Private Hire and Hackney Carriage Vehicle Drivers Licence to be determined by the sub-committee.

The report contained background information on the process for determining such applications, the information to be taken into account and the circumstances in which the sub-committee could revoke a licence.

The options available to the sub-committee when considering the application were:

• To revoke the licence.
• To add additional conditions or restrictions to the licence.
• To take no action.

Should the sub-committee revoke the licence or impose additional terms, conditions or restrictions then the licence holder may appeal to the Magistrates Court within 21 days from the date on which he was notified of the decision.

Should the Magistrates uphold the decision of the council, the licence holder had further recourse to the Crown Court.

The procedure for dealing with such applications at meetings of the sub-committee had previously been circulated to members.

The licence holder attended the meeting, who made submissions and responded to questions.

Resolved – The Licensing (Miscellaneous) Sub-Committee informed the License Holder that traffic offences were considered seriously by the councillors and that the safety of the public was the sub-committees paramount consideration. The sub-committee expect a standard of behaviour which provided a positive image of the hackney carriage and private hire trade in North Lincolnshire and anticipated that the Licence Holder adhered to this as well as the Council's Taxi Licensing Policy and relevant Bylaws.

As a result of these offences the Licence Holder had in total 18 warning points on their Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Driver's Licence. However, after taking into consideration the information presented at the hearing, the sub-committee agreed to allow the Licence Holders Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Drivers Licences to continue, as they considered the Licence Holder to be a fit and proper person under section 51 the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976. The 18 warning points would remain on the Licence Holder's Hackney Carriage and Private Hire drivers licencses until they expired.

1618 LOCAL GOVERNMENT (MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS) ACT 1976 – APPLICATION FOR A PRIVATE HIRE VEHICLE DRIVERS LICENCE – The Director: Operations submitted a report advising members of an application for the grant of a Private Hire Vehicle Drivers Licence to be determined by the sub-committee.

The report contained background information on the process for determining such applications, the information to be taken into account and the circumstances in which the sub-committee could revoke a licence.

The options available to the sub-committee when considering the application were:

• To grant the licence as applied for with no additional conditions or restrictions other than those normally applied to such licences.
• To grant the licence subject to additional conditions or restrictions.
• To refuse to grant the licence.

Should the sub-committee revoke the licence or impose additional terms, conditions or restrictions then the licence holder may appeal to the Magistrates Court within 21 days from the date on which he was notified of the decision.

Should the Magistrates uphold the decision of the council, the licence holder had further recourse to the Crown Court.

The procedure for dealing with such applications at meetings of the sub-committee had previously been circulated to members.

The applicant attended the meeting with a work place colleague, who made submissions and responded to questions.

Resolved - The Licensing (Miscellaneous) Sub-Committee carefully considered all the representations presented at the hearing and had given particular weight to the applicant's medical report, which stated that the applicant was fit to act as a driver of a private hire vehicle. The sub-committee therefore agreed to grant the licence application in accordance with section 51 of the Local Government (Miscellaneous) Provisions Act 1976 as they considered the applicant to be a fit and proper person to hold such a licence. However, the sub-committee did agree to impose a condition on the license that the applicant take a medical test yearly and submit the results of the test to the Licensing Department without delay.

1619 EXCLUSION OF THE PUBLIC – Resolved – That the public be excluded from the meeting for consideration of the following item (Minute 1616 refers) on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraph 1 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended).

1620 LOCAL GOVERNMENT (MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS) ACT 1976 – TOWN POLICE CLAUSES ACT 1847 – APPLICATION TO RENEW A HACKNEY CARRIAGE VEHICLE DRIVERS LICENCE – The Director: Operations submitted a report advising members of an application for the renewal of a Hackney Carriage Vehicle Drivers Licence to be determined by the sub-committee.

The report contained background information on the process for determining such applications, the information to be taken into account and the circumstances in which the sub-committee could revoke a licence.

The options available to the sub-committee when considering the application were:

• To renew the licence as applied for with no additional conditions or restrictions other than those normally applied to such licences.
• To renew the licence subject to additional conditions or restrictions.
• To refuse to renew the licence.

Should the sub-committee revoke the licence or impose additional terms, conditions or restrictions then the licence holder may appeal to the Magistrates Court within 21 days from the date on which he was notified of the decision.

Should the Magistrates uphold the decision of the council, the licence holder had further recourse to the Crown Court.

The procedure for dealing with such applications at meetings of the sub-committee had previously been circulated to members.

The applicant attended the meeting with a work place colleague, who made submissions and responded to questions.

Resolved – The Licensing (Miscellaneous) Sub-Committee considered the information presented by the Licensing Authority within the agenda bundle and listened very carefully to the representations and evidence presented at the hearing.

The Sub-Committee informed the Licence Holder that the safety of the public, in particular the welfare and safeguarding of vulnerable children, was a paramount consideration when determining any application for a Hackney Carriage or Private Hire vehicles drivers licence. The sub-committee expect a standard of behaviour which provides a positive image of the Hackney Carriage and Private Hire trade in North Lincolnshire.

The allegations made against the Licence Holder were in respect of an incident involving a child during a school transport journey on the 28^th March 2019. The sub-committee members were deeply concerned that this incident had occurred only nine days after the Licence Holder had successfully undertaken and passed the mandatory Safeguarding and Chid Sexual Exploitation (CSE) awareness training that all Hackney Carriage and Private Hire vehicle drivers licence holders must complete.

After hearing the brief representations made by the Licence Holder including his response to the questions posed by members, the sub-committee unanimously agreed to refuse to renew his Hackney Carriage Vehicles Driver licences. The Sub-committee had little confidence that the Licence Holder understood the importance of safeguarding children and that he would adhere to the requirements of the council's Safeguarding and CSE Awareness training due to the incident happening shortly after him attending the mandatory training.

The sub-committee were therefore not satisfied that the Licence Holder was a fit and proper person in accordance with Section 51 of the Local Government (Miscellaneous) Provisions Act 1976 to hold a hackney carriage and private hire vehicles drivers licence.