Agenda item

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

The driver in relation to this item had given no indication that he intended to attend this meeting.

The panel considered the Enforcement Officer’s report.

The Council requires all drivers to undergo an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check and group 2 medical when they apply for a licence and every three years after that. These checks assist the Council in establishing whether an individual is a ‘fit and proper’ person to hold a licence. The driver’s last group 2 medical expired on 11 March 2018 and his DBS check expired on 31 March 2018 and he had failed to supply new ones to the Council.

At 1:15 the Committee retired to make its decision.

At 1:25 the Committee returned. The decision was read to those present.

Decision:

The application before the Panel today is for the suspension or revocation of the driver’s joint private hire/hackney carriage licence in accordance with S61  (1) (b) Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976.- any other reasonable cause. He has been licenced in Uttlesford since 1^st April 2016 and his current licence is due to expire on 31^st March 2019. His last known driving role was with 24 x 7 Ltd.

The Council requires all drivers to undergo an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check and group 2 medical when they apply for a licence and every three years after that. These checks assist the Council in establishing whether an individual is a ‘fit and proper’ person to hold a licence. The driver last group 2 medical expired on 11 March 2018 and his DBS check expired on 31 March 2018.

Normal practice at UDC is to send out reminder letters to drivers for DBS checks that are due to expire on the first working day of the month which precedes the month when the check expires.   The reminders for medicals are typically sent out on the 15^th day of the month preceding the expiry of that check. Further, licensed drivers are also required to complete DVLA mandate forms for the Council every three years to enable the licensing department to carry out checks on DVLA records every year. The driver DVLA mandate expired on 02 March 2018 He has failed to respond to all of these reminders.

On 20 March 2018, the licensing team sent a letter to the driver with a reply form to determine whether he wanted to keep or surrender his licence. No response was received. The licensing team left two further phone messages for the driver on 10 and 17 April 2018 but received no response.

The Enforcement Officer followed this up on 24 April 2018 by letter explaining that  medical, DBS and DVLA mandate had all expired and that if the driver wanted to remain licensed then he must provide these documents by 10 May 2018. He has not done so.

Condition 12 of Appendix A of the Council’s Licensing Standards requires drivers to meet “…Group 2 medical standards as published by the Dept of Transport.”

Compliance with this standard is a legal requirement, and without a certificate we have no means of knowing whether this requirement is satisfied. This Committee considers that failure to provide an up to date medical or DBS check is a breach of Council policy; the checks are vital to establish that a driver is medically fit enough to drive, and has not received any criminal convictions in the period since their last DBS check. Lacking that information, and mindful of the paramount importance of public safety, we are not satisfied that the driver is a fit and proper person to hold hackney carriage and private hire licences  and therefore revoke them, with immediate effect.

The driver has a right of appeal against this decision to the Magistrates Court, and that any such appeal must be lodged within 21 days. Normally, the revocation would come into effect following the end of the appeal period, but since the revocation is because of failure to supply a medical certificate in the interests of public safety, this period of grace will not apply. He will receive a letter from the Legal Department explaining this.

The meeting ended at 1.30pm.