Agenda item

To determine a private hire/hackney carriage drivers licence.

The driver in relation to Item 5 had not arrived and so the Committee moved on to Item 6.

The procedure for determining a private hire/hackney carriage licence was read to the driver.

The Committee considered the Enforcement Officer’s report.

On 04 January 2018, the Council’s licensing department carried out a DVLA Drivercheck search on the driver as part of their annual due diligence checks.   This revealed that he received six penalty points for a CU80 offence (using a mobile phone while driving) on 05 September 2017.

The driver said he had been unaware that he had to inform the Council when he received points on his licence. He was currently licenced with another district council which did not require him to report points unless he accumulated nine in total.

In response to a question from members, the driver said he did not have a hands-free device in his taxi. The Enforcement Officer said it was the operator’s decision whether to install a hands-free system in the car.

In response to a question from members, the driver said he had not been using his phone at the time of the incident, but that police officers had said it was still an offence to be handling it while driving. He had offered for officers to check his phone to demonstrate he had not been using it.

In response to a question from members, the driver said he also worked as a Duty Manager at Pizza Hut.

At 12:35, the Committee retired to make its decision.

At 13:05, the Committee returned.

The decision was read to the driver.

Decision

The driver has had a joint private hire/hackney carriage driver’s licence, which has expired and is up for renewal. Following the Council’s annual driver check of the DVLA it was revealed that the driver had received a fixed penalty notice and 6 points on his licence, which he did not notify to the Council.

As a result, the driver no longer meets licensing standards as he received 6 points for one offence. By failing to notify the Council he had also his breached licensing conditions.

The driver has explained the circumstances surrounding the commission of the offence, and how he did not actually use the phone, only picked it up from the foot well. However, it was serious enough for the Police to issue a fixed penalty notice.

Members have a responsibility to ensure the safety of passengers, and consider this is their paramount concern. It is recognised that using a mobile phone whilst in charge of a moving vehicle is a serious public safety issue, which is why the penalty points for the offence was increased to 6 from 3 points in March 2017. Members note that the driver wasn’t actually talking on the phone, and have accepted his word that he does not use his mobile phone whilst driving. However, bending down to pick up a phone from the foot well, whilst in moving traffic, even slow moving traffic is equally dangerous.

The Council’s licensing standards are quite clear that 6 points for one offence is considered not acceptable, and the onus is on the driver to satisfy the Council that despite failing to meet licensing standards, he is a fit and proper person.

Members do not consider that the driver has provided enough explanation or mitigation to enable Members to depart from Council policy.  Receiving a 6 point endorsement is a serious matter, and Members do not consider that the driver has acknowledged that fact or provided any additional information respect of this which would enable the Council to consider him fit and proper.

In addition, the driver did not consider it serious enough to report his conviction and points on his licence to the Licensing Authority, which is also a breach of the conditions of his driver’s licence. This is despite having only received and signed a declaration to the effect that he would abide by the conditions 6 months earlier.

Therefore the Council does not consider the driver a fit and proper person, and refuses to renew his driver’s licence under S61 Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976.

The driver is advised that he does have the right to appeal against this decision by application to the Magistrates Court within 21 days of receipt of the written decision notice. All the details will be contained in that letter.