Issue - meetings

To determine a private hire/hackney carriage driver’s licence.

The Chair brought Item 5 forward in proceedings.

The Licensing and Compliance Officer stated that the applicant had originally been intending to attend the meeting but had been made aware of information recently received from Dundee City Council and had left the building.

Members agreed to consider this item in the absence of the applicant.

The Licensing and Compliance Officer gave a summary of the report. The applicant had applied for a private hire/hackney carriage driver’s licence on 2 January 2020 to work for 24x7 (Kent) Ltd on their school contracts. On his application form, in answer to question 12 ‘Have you ever been convicted of ANY offence (including motoring offences) including spent and unspent convictions in any Court or received a police caution?’ the applicant declared a SP30 offence from 1996. Part of the application process required applicants to produce an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Certificate and the applicant’s certificate dated 9 January 2020 showed 2 convictions.

The Licensing and Compliance Officer stated that there had been further contact with Dundee City Council and they had confirmed that he was currently awaiting trial for a number of very serious offences and as a result his licence had been suspended by them until the matter had been resolved. They had provided an email that outlined extremely serious matters and a copy had been given to the applicant prior to the meeting. The applicant now came before members for them to determine whether he was a ‘fit and proper’ person to hold a licence as he had not met the Council’s licensing standards.

Members reviewed the papers and considered the new evidence provided by Dundee City Council.

DECISION NOTICE –

The application before the Panel today is the applicant’s application for a joint hackney carriage/PHV driver’s licence.  If successful, he has an offer of employment from 24 x 7 (Kent) Ltd on the school contract side of the business. He attended the Council’s offices on schedule this morning but then left after speaking with the Licensing Officer.  We are therefore satisfied that he was aware of this hearing, could have remained and chose not to do so and therefore we proceed in his absence.

Question 12 of the form (a copy of which we have before us) asks “Have you ever been convicted of ANY offence (including motoring offences) including spent and unspent convictions in any Court, or received a police caution?” The applicant declared a 1996 SP30 speeding offence in response to this question.

However, the application process requires applicants to produce an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service Certificate and the applicant’s, dated 09 January 2020, showed 2 convictions as follows:

·         Conviction 1 – Offence – Fail to attend Diet on Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995. Disposal – Sentence deferred 31.03.2015 admonished.

·         Conviction 2 – Offence: Send a non-sexual offensive/indecent obscene/menacing message by means of public electronic communications on Communications Act 2003. Disposal – sentence deferred 28.11.2017, community payback order 80 hours unpaid work 80 hours within 6 months local  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5