Agenda and minutes

To receive any apologies for absence and declarations of interest.

There were no apologies for absence or declarations of interest.

Consideration of reports containing exempt information within the meaning of section 100I and paragraph 1 part 1 Schedule 12A Local Government Act 1972.

RESOLVED that under section 1001 of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded for the following items of business on the grounds that it involved the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraphs 1 and 2 part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act.

To consider whether the individual should have their private

hire/hackney carriage driver’s licence suspended or revoked.

The Panel and Officers present introduced themselves to the driver.

The Solicitor clarified that Councillor Driscoll was attending the meeting for training purposes and would not participate in the meeting.

The Licensing Support Officer gave a summary of her report which requested that Members determine whether the applicant is considered ‘fit and proper’ to be granted a Private Hire Driver licence with this Authority

The driver confirmed that she had not intentionally mislead the council and had honestly thought that the convictions that occurred forty years ago were spent and irrelevant. She apologised to the Committee.

In response to questions from Members the driver confirmed:

·       She has worked throughout her adult life, including forty years as a legal secretary.

·       She did some irresponsible things when she was twenty years old which resulted in her spending four weeks in prison.

·       She had subsequently put this period behind her and moved forward with her life, family and career.

·       She confirmed that the driving she undertook was school contract work.

·       She again apologised for her mistake and bad judgement.

The driver left the meeting at 11:11am and the meeting was adjourned; the Panel retired to make its decision.

The driver rejoined the meeting at 11:23am and the meeting reconvened.

The Chair read the driver the decision notice.

The driver left the meeting at 11:26am.

DECISION NOTICE

The matter before the Panel today is an application for the grant of a new HC/PHV driver’s licence to the driver. If successful she has an offer of employment with Lucketts of Watford.

We have had the opportunity of reading the officer’s report in this case, a copy of which has been served on the driver, and we have also seen, as has she, the background documents annexed thereto and we have had the opportunity of hearing from the Case Officer and from the driver.

Briefly, the enhanced DBS certificate submitted as part of the licence application discloses two historic convictions for shop theft in 1980 and 1981. These convictions are over forty years old, but unfortunately, the driver failed to declare this information on his application form.  The Rehabilitation of Offenders regime does not apply to the licensing of HC/PHV drivers. Question 6 of the UDC application form clearly asks “Do you have any spent convictions?” the box ticked is “No” (copy attached).  We are entitled to take into account spent matters.

Clause 2.3 of the Council’s Driver Conditions policy states as follows:-

“Any dishonesty by any applicant or other person on the applicant’s behalf which is discovered to have occurred in any part of any application process (eg failure to declare convictions, false names or addresses, falsified references) will result in a licence being refused, or if already granted, revoked and may result in prosecution”

We have heard from the Case Officer and from the driver. She told us that she did not intend to mislead the council and that that she genuinely believed the convictions to be spent. She told us that she  ...  view the full minutes text for item LIC3

To consider whether the individual should have their private

hire/hackney carriage driver’s licence suspended or revoked.

The Panel and Officers present introduced themselves to the driver.

The Licensing Support Officer gave a summary of her report which requested that Members determine whether the applicant is considered ‘fit and proper’ to be granted a Private Hire Driver licence with this Authority

The driver confirmed:

·       The omission of the three penalty points on her driver application form was a genuine mistake and noted that when she received the fixed penalty she wasn’t asked to surrender her license for the points to be added.

·       She forgot to notify the District Council that she had received the three penalty points, partly due to the pressure she was under whilst supporting elderly parents who had Covid at the time.

·       Driving was her sole income and she has had to borrow money during the period she has not been driving, awaiting the result of this hearing.

·       She noted that her license would have been renewed if she had notified the District Council of the penalty points.

·        She again apologised to the Panel.

In response to questions from Members the driver confirmed that she did not realise that she was being allocated penalty points alongside the fine, particularly as she did not have to send her license off for endorsement.

The driver left the meeting at 11:39am and the meeting was adjourned; the Panel retired to make its decision.

The driver rejoined the meeting at 12:08pm and the meeting reconvened.

The Chair read the driver the decision notice.

The driver left the meeting at 12:10pm.

DECISION NOTICE

The matter before the Panel today is an application for the renewal of the HC/PHV driver’s licence held by the driver. She is employed by 24 x 7 Ltd as a Home to School Transport (HtST) driver.

We have had the opportunity of reading the officer’s report in this case, a copy of which has been served on the driver, and we have also seen, as has she, the background documents annexed thereto and we have had the opportunity of hearing from the Case Officer and from the driver

Briefly, the documents submitted alongside the renewal application, a copy of which is before us, shows that the driver acquired 3 points on her DVLA licence for a TS10 on 30^th April 2021.  Unfortunately, she failed to declare this information on her application form.  The Rehabilitation of Offenders regime does not apply to the licensing of HC/PHV drivers. Question 4 of the UDC application form clearly asks “Do you have any endorsements on your DVLA Licence” the box ticked is “No” (copy attached).  The UDC application form also clearly states that “You must include all Driving Licence Endorsements within the last 7 years”.

Clause 2.3 of the Council’s Driver Conditions policy states as follows:-

“Any dishonesty by any applicant or other person on the applicant’s behalf which is discovered to have occurred in any part of any application process (eg failure to declare convictions, false names or addresses, falsified references) will result in  ...  view the full minutes text for item LIC4