Agenda item

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

The Chairman introduced the Panel and explained procedure to the applicant and his representative.

The Enforcement Officer summarised the report for the Committee’s consideration.

The driver had held a private hire/hackney carriage driver’s licence with Uttlesford District Council since 13 August 2015. Following a recent DVLA drivercheck, officers revealed that the driver had two offences which had not been disclosed to the Council. These were:

·         IN10 offence (using a vehicle without insurance) on 10 October 2017. He was convicted on 12 March 2018 and his licence was endorsed withsix penalty points.

·         TS20 offence (failing to comply with double white lines) on 22 February 2018. He was convicted on 04 August 2018 and his licence wasendorsed with three penalty points.

As well as breaching the conditions of his licence due to non-disclosure of offences, he was also in breach of licensing standards as he had received six penalty points for the IN10 offence. As the driver no longer met the Council’s licensing standards, it was for the Committee to consider whether the driver remained a fit and proper person to retain a licence.

Mr Drinkwater, on behalf of the driver, said both offences had occurred during a difficult period in the driver’s life and whilst he was not living in his family home. Prior to these offences, the driver had maintained a clean licence for over twenty years. In mitigation, the IN10 was incurred because the driver had changed his private vehicle’s number plate without informing the insurance company (he had, however, informed the DVLA) and, by doing so, had invalidated his existing insurance. Mr Drinkwater said this was an administrative error and not a nefarious attempt to undermine the law. 

The driver addressed the Committee. He said he was very sorry for the offences and for not notifying the Council. His life was now in a far better place and he had learnt from his mistakes; he said he was now fully aware of the terms and conditions of his licence. 

Two employer references were tabled for the Committee’s consideration. Mr Drinkwater affirmed that the driver’s employer were very keen to retain his services. 

At 11.40, the Committee retired to make its decision.

At 12.30, 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 a driver’s  joint private hire/hackney carriage licence number PH/HC1296 dated  13^th August 2015, in accordance with S61  (1) (b) Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976.- any other reasonable cause. The three year licence is due to expire on 31^st July 2019. The driver works for 24 x 7 Ltd on the airport side of their operations but he has told us today that he hopes to move onto full time school contract work.

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 he, the background documents annexed thereto

Sadly, the updating of the driver’s enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check, group two medical and DVLA mandate were found to be overdue earlier this year. He attended the Council Offices on 16 October 2018 and produced a new group two medical and DVLA mandate, and also completed a new DBS form. According to their records the driver was sent his new certificate on 29 October but he did not produce this to the Licensing Department until 30^th November.

However, the new DVLA mandate allowed the obtaining of a new DVLA Drivercheck upon him, dated 18 October 2018.   This revealed that he had two offences which were:

·         IN10 offence (using a vehicle without insurance) on 10 October 2017.   He was convicted on 12 March 2018 and his licence was endorsed with six penalty points.

·         TS20 offence (failing to comply with double white lines) on 22 February 2018.   He was convicted on 04 August 2018 and his licence was endorsed with three penalty points.

Neither of these offences were disclosed to the Council.

Condition 18c of Appendix G of the private hire/hackney carriage driver’s  conditions of licence states that they must notify UDC in writing of ‘any convictions, cautions or fixed penalty notices within seven days of the date of conviction, caution or the issue of a fixed penalty notice.’  

The driver has breached these conditions of licence on two occasions in the last 12 months and did not even disclose the fact when he attended the Council Offices on 16 October. We take these failures into account.

More importantly, as a result of receiving six penalty points for a single offence, the driver no longer meets the Council’s Licensing Standards for drivers. Paragraph 2 of Appendix A thereof states:

“No convictions or fixed penalty notices endorsed on a driver’s licence within the last three years where six or more points have been endorsed in respect of a single offence.”

On 28 November 2018, the driver emailed the Enforcement Officer and explained the broad outlines surrounding the convictions and gave further background to his breaches of conditions.   A copy is included among our papers and we have read it carefully. On the following day, the Enforcement Officer carried out a telephone interview with the driver to obtain further information, and the following disclosures were made:- .

The IN10 offence happened when the driver was using his private vehicle. This vehicle was on a personalised plate and he had agreed to sell it so had reinstated the original licence plate.  However, he did not notify the insurance company and although there was an insurance policy it did not have the correct registration number and was therefore invalid.   As a result he received six penalty points and a fine of around £600.

The T20 offence took place when the driver was merging onto the M11 from M25 going southbound, again in his personal vehicle. He crossed the lines before he should have and this matter was reported by the Police.   He explained that he enquired with the Police at the time as to whether he would get penalty points, and they told him he would probably have to do a course. However, while this offence was pending, he was living away from home and so did not see the letters. He subsequently received 3 penalty points and a fine of over £100.

Finally, the driver was asked if he was aware of his driver’s conditions of licence and he said that he had read them when his licence was granted but he had not looked at them since. He explained that he did not think he had to report penalty points to the Council unless he had over six points.

We have read the papers before us and we have heard from the driver and from Mr Drinkwater, representing him this morning.  We have also read two references submitted to us today.

We understand that the administrative procedures needed to change a private number plate on a car are complex and time consuming. However, the documentation needed to the procedure explains what is required, and insurance policies similarly explain the notification requirements if any changes are made to vehicle details, and the consequences of failure.  Driving without a valid policy insurance in place is a serious offence.

We have debated this case anxiously among ourselves, and we have taken into account the Council’s policy, case law, and the mitigation put before us on behalf of the driver. We have also taken into account that the driver has been fined over £700 by the Courts and that he has nine points on his licence.

We have also taken into consideration the fact that the driver did not notify the Council at the time the offences took place: he also failed to notify when he met with officers on 16^th October. We had to find out via the DVLA disclosure. This, when coupled with the failure to refresh his memory regularly regarding his regulatory obligations, is also of considerable concern.

However, in this case we do not consider revocation of the licences to be merited: nevertheless, we cannot let these matters go unsanctioned, and we are therefore minded to suspend the driver’s licences.  This suspension will be for a period of 28 days.

There is a right of appeal against this decision which must be exercised within a period of 21 days. This period runs from the date of formal notification of the Committee’s decision, that is, today. The suspension will therefore being on 9^th January 2019, and the driver will receive a letter from the Legal Department explaining this.

Councillor Hick’s left the meeting at 12.35.