Agenda item

To determine a Private Hire/Hackney Carriage Driver's licence.

The Enforcement Officer gave a summary of the report.

The driver’s last enhanced DBS check and group 2 medical expired on 30 June 2018. The driver had also failed to produce a new DVLA driver mandate which also expired on 30 June 2018. This meant that the Council now could not check his DVLA record.

The Enforcement Officer had telephone calls with the driver who explained that he now held licences with TFL but wanted to keep his licence with Uttlesford to keep his options open.

At 3.20, the Committee retired to make its decision.

At 3.25, the Committee returned.

The decision was read to those present.

‘DECISION NOTICE –

The application before the Panel today is for the suspension or revocation of the driver’s joint private hire/hackney carriage licence no PH/HC1284  in accordance with S61  (1) (b) Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976.- any other reasonable cause. He has been licenced in Uttlesford since 30^th July 2015   and his current licence is due to expire on 30^th June 2019. His last known driving role under the terms of this licence was with 24 x 7 Ltd.

We also note that according to the Licensing Department’s records, the driver is  resident at one particular address in Loughton but when he spoke recently to the Enforcement Officer he advised that he had moved home. Any such moves must be notified to the Council in writing within seven days of the move under Clause 18a of Appendix G of the Council’s Licensing Standards and this he has failed to do.

The Council requires all drivers to undergo an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check, a group 2 medical examination, and to provide a DVLA mandate to allow annual scrutiny of driving records 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 has not supplied any of these documents, and all three expired on 30^th June 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.

The driver  was formally contacted in writing on 1^st May 2018 and again on 29^th May, and for a third time by the Enforcement Officer on 14^th January 2019 and was then told that if he wanted to remain licensed in Uttlesford then he must provide these documents by 30^th January  2019. He has not done so, but did contact the Council by telephone and said he held a TfL licence but wanted to retain his Uttlesford licence to keep his options open.

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 the fact a licence is held with another authority does not absolve the individual from compliance with this requirement.  Without an up to date  certificate we have no means of knowing whether this requirement is satisfied. This Committee considers that failure to provide an up to date medical, DVLA 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 up to date 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  in Uttlesford and therefore revoke them.

The fact he is also licensed by TfL does not absolve him from complying with Uttlesford’s requirements and we remind ourselves of the breach of standard 18a Appendix G. Keeping his options open is not a good reason for disapplying our requirements which are in place for the protection of the travelling public: his TfL licence is not a passport to an Uttlesford licence and we are required to make our decision based upon our estimation as to the driver’s fitness to hold it.

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. He will receive a letter from the Legal Department explaining this.