Agenda item

To determine an application for a private hire/hackney carriage driver's licence.

The Chairman introduced the Panel and explained procedure to those present.

The Enforcement Officer gave a summary of the report.

On 12 June 2018, the driver applied to this authority for the grant of a private hire/hackney carriage driver’s licence.  A standard driver check was carried out which identified two speeding offences from 2016 which had not been declared on the driver’s application form. The driver attended a meeting with the Enforcement Officer on 10 August 2018 and said he had forgotten the two motoring offences from 2016 as they had not been written down.

The driver was invited to address the Panel.

The driver said he had simply forgotten the two offences from 2016 as they had not been written down on his paper licence. Previously he had been an operator and knew the importance of declaring such information when applying for a licence.

In response to a question from Councillor Barker, the driver said he was acutely aware that the Council would carry out a driver check, and he knew what would happen if an offence was not declared, due to his experience as an operator. He said it was a simple mistake and he really had just forgotten to list the two offences.

The Panel retired at 11.40am to make a decision.

The meeting was reconvened at 12.25pm.

The Chairman read the decision to those present.

Decision

The driver’s application dated 12th June 2018 is for a Private Hire/Hackney Carriage Driver’s licence.  If successful, he has an offer of employment from 24 x 7 Ltd carrying out school contract work.

The Council’s standard application form asks a number of questions about an applicant’s antecedent history. A copy of the form completed by the driver is before us and he has been provided with a copy prior to the hearing today.           

One of the questions is “Has your licence ever been endorsed for a fixed penalty offence within the last four years?”

The driver answered no to this.

Another is, “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 reply to this was that in February 1973 the driver was convicted of indecent exposure at common law for which he received an admonishment and in December 2003 he was convicted of knowingly making a false entry in a book/registration document for which he was fined £100.  The driver also advised that he had two endorsements on his licence for motoring offences, one was an SP30 offence in June 2009 for which he received 3 penalty points on his licence and the second was an SP30 offence in June 2014 for which he received 3 penalty points on his licence. These points are no longer live.

However, as part of the due diligence process a standard driver check was carried out by the Council on 24 July 2018 and this identified two undisclosed motoring offences for which the driver had received penalty points on his driving licence.  The first was in June 2016 which was an SP60 offence (speeding) for which he received 3 penalty points on his licence and the second was in August 2016 and was an SP30 offence (speeding) for which he received 3 penalty points on his licence. These six points are all current.

The driver was invited to a meeting with the Enforcement Officer on 10th August to discuss this non-disclosure. He explained that in completing the application form he had included the endorsements on his counterpart licence even though these convictions were spent, but he had forgotten the two motoring offences from 2016 because they were not written down. 

The details behind the SP60 offence are that the driver was working as a courier driver at the time and believes he was driving somewhere around the M14/M1 area where he recalls there was numerous road works and believes that there must have been a temporary reduction in vehicle speed to 50 mph going through the roadworks and the driver advised he was doing just over the 50 mph speed limit at the time.  The offence was caught by a speed camera. The SP30 offence also occurred in the course of the same employment, near Ipswich; the speed limit for the road was 30 mph and the driver was again caught by speed camera doing around 35 mph.

The driver advised the Officer that up to 2012 he was an operator of his own company licensed through Braintree District Council where he managed a fleet of 25 vehicles carrying out school contract work and transportation of children with special needs. 

Making a false statement to obtain a licence is an offence under section 57(3) Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976, but although the  Environmental Health Manager (Protection) has deemed it not in the public interest to prosecute The driver, his application was referred to this Committee for determination.

We have listened to what the driver has had to tell us and we accept that it was a genuine oversight and that he is truly sorry.  We accordingly grant his application and he will receive the paperwork in due course.