Issue - meetings

To determine a private hire/hackney carriage drivers’ licence.

The Chairman took Item 4 on the agenda last.

The Chairman read the procedure for determining licenses to the applicant.

The Enforcement Officer gave a summary of the report.

On 05 December 2018, the Enforcement Officer received a telephone call from Chelmsford City Council to report that there had been an altercation between the driver and another Chelmsford licensed driver in Chelmsford on 01 December 2018. This resulted in Essex Police attending.

Summaries of the conclusion reached by the Police, and the driver’s version of events, were set out in the report. Essex Police’s Data Protection Team had also confirmed that the driver had been issued a caution for criminal damage.

The driver no longer met the Council’s licensing standards for drivers, as

standard 9 reads: ‘No official cautions (save for cautions administered by Uttlesford District Council) for any offences within the last 12 months.’

The driver gave his account of events. He had been waiting to collect a passenger at a pre-arranged meeting point. This was not a marked-taxi rank, and he was parked a clear distance away from a queue of other taxis. One taxi driver pulled up behind him, banged on the window and accused him of plying for trade. The driver explained that he was pre-booked, but the other driver proceeded to take photos of the vehicle and then the driver himself. At this point, the driver left his vehicle and pushed the phone away, resulting in it falling onto the floor and being damaged. The other driver then claimed he had been assaulted and left.

The driver said it was a bad decision of his to get out of the car and push the phone away, but the other driver’s behaviour had put him on edge. This sort of behaviour was not in his character.

At 11.35, the Committee retired to make its decision.

At 12.00, the Committee returned.

The decision was read to the driver.

DECISION NOTICE

The application before the Panel today is for the suspension or revocation of the driver’s  joint private hire/hackney carriage licence number PH/HC0405 in accordance with S61  (1) (b) Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976.- any other reasonable cause. The licence is due to expire on 31^st May 2019.  The driver has been licensed by the Council since June 2011 and we note he is the proprietor of a licensed vehicle.

On 5^th December 2018, the Council’s Enforcement Officer received a telephone call from Chelmsford City Council advising of an altercation between the driver and another driver on 1^st December which had led to the Police being called. Email contact was made with the investigating officer, PC Akifjevs, who described a confused incident (described in the papers before us). As a result, it was decided that there was insufficient evidence to found a prosecution, but that what is more likely than not happened in the opinion of PC Akifijevs was that on Saturday 1st December 2018 at about 2145 hours the driver parked in  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8