Agenda and minutes
Public Speaking: To register your intention to speak at a Council, Cabinet or Committee meeting, please contact Democratic Services on committee@uttlesford.gov.uk or 01799 510410, 510548, 510369 or 510460. Panel, Forum and Working Group meetings do not generally permit public speaking. Please refer to a specific meeting's pdf agenda pack for further information and registration deadlines.
Live Broadcast: For Council, Cabinet and Committee meetings the video player will be available on this page under the Media banner a few minutes before the meeting is due to begin. Please note that Panel, Board, Forum and Working Group meetings are not generally broadcast on the website. We believe that live streaming video of our formal decision making meetings, and publishing the recordings to be watched back later, is good for democracy – and you can find these videos on our website. This video technology sits alongside the longstanding practice of providing seats in the public gallery for members of the public and journalists to turn up and watch our in-person meetings live. Please understand that whilst we will continue to make every reasonable effort to ensure that our key public meetings at which important decisions are live streamed and recorded, any failure in that technology does not in any way invalidate the legitimacy of that meeting or of the decisions taken at it. Even in the event of such occasional technical failures, the public gallery will still have been open, as required by law, and the minutes of the meetings will still be made available in due course.
Zoom and YouTube have their own privacy and data security policies, which can be accessed at www.zoom.us and www.youtube.com.
PDF 202 KBVenue: Zoom - https://zoom.us/. View directions
Contact: Democratic Services 01799 510434 Email: committee@uttlesford.gov.uk
Media
| No. | Item |
|---|---|
|
Apologies for Absence and Declarations of Interest To receive any apologies for absence and declarations of interest. Minutes: There were no apologies for absence or declarations of interest.
|
|
|
Review of Private Hire Operator's Licence To determine a review of a Private Hire Operator’s Licence. Additional documents:
Minutes: The Senior Licensing and Compliance Officer summarised the report which asked for the Panel to review incidences related to Kinect Services Ltd. On the 2nd to 4th September and 7th September 2020, 8 vehicles being used on the Thriftwood School and College Contract were found to be unlicensed.
The applications for private hire licences had been made on the 27th August 2020 but had not been validated or issued by the Licensing Department. The vehicles were therefore not licensed on the stated dates which was an offence under section 46(1)(e) of the Local Government Miscellaneous Provisions Act 1976. This invalidated the insurance constituting a further offence under the Road Traffic Act. He stated that the Licensing Department had also received misleading information from Kinect Services Ltd referenced in Appendices A and C.
Kinect Services Ltd came before Members for them to determine whether they were a ‘fit and proper’ company to hold an Operator’s Licence as they had not met the Council’s licensing standards.
In response to a question from the Chair, the Senior Licensing and Compliance Officer verified that the 8 vehicles were subsequently licenced. He also confirmed that applications were submitted on the 27th August 2020.
Leading Counsel for Kinect Services spoke on the company’s behalf. He stated that the Managing Director, Kinect Services Ltd took this process very seriously and wanted the Panel to be reassured that changes to procedures would be implemented to ensure that the company did not make this mistake again.
The Chair confirmed that some of the background documents sent could not be opened; these were to be sent again via e-mail by the end of the meeting.
A comprehensive background of the company was given. Kinect Services Ltd had 70 vehicles under contract with Local Authorities to provide transport for children with learning disabilities and the elderly.
The management structure was explained as this related to the area where mistakes had been identified. Two posts were highlighted in the structure under the Transport Manager: the Fleet Administrator who manages the fleet of vehicles and processes the licences and the Routing and Planning role in charge of the allocation of drivers. Communication between these posts had resulted in the 8 vehicles not being identified as unlicensed.
Essex County Council had awarded the contract for Transport Services to Kinect Services Ltd on 6July 2020 to start on the 2 September 2020.
In order to provide the service, vehicles were hired and drivers recruited; staff from a previous company were also transferred by TUPE. All the applications for licences were made to the Licensing department at Uttlesford District Council and the majority were licensed and plates sent through.
The breakdown in communication occurred when all vehicles were not cross referenced and the final checks had not been carried out. . Unfortunately this was compounded by a telephone call from the Licensing Department to the Transport Manager, Kinect Services Ltd, who realised the mistake. In his panic he said that ... view the full minutes text for item 2. |