Agenda item

To determine a private hire/hackney carriage vehicle licence.

The Chair moved Item 5 forward in the proceedings.

Mr Hussain, a director of Happicabs sent the Council an email detailing an incident where the driver transported a passenger on the late hours of 23 September 2019 in Chelmsford. This journey was not pre-booked through a private hire operator and at the time the driver was driving a private hire vehicle.

The female passenger entered the driver’s vehicle without an invite. She requested that the driver take her home and explained that she did not have a mobile telephone and had very little money to get home. The passenger is a regular customer of Happicabs for over 7 years and was known by the company as someone suffering from various ailments and issues.  According to Mr Hussain she has no family and has been diagnosed with a brain tumour. She often drinks and puts herself in vulnerable situations.

The driver then began to drive and called the office to get the job booked to get the passenger home safely. The Office was unable to create a job for the journey. Mr Hussain then became aware of the situation and instructed the driver to drop her off where he picked her up. He did this and returned to the Office for a meeting with Mr Hussain where he was then suspended by the company with immediate effect.

The driver said he had no intention of taking the passenger’s money as he was only trying to help someone in need.

The driver tabled proof that he had called the office to try and get the journey booked.

The driver’s representative said his client had been put in a very difficult situation and had tried do the right thing. He said Happicabs had taken appropriate action by suspending the driver until they were 100% sure that the story was true. The actions of the driver demonstrated he was a fit and proper person to hold a private hire licence.

At 10.25, the Committee retired to make its decision.

At 10.35, the Committee returned. The decision was read to those present.

RESOLVED to take no further action on the matter of the driver’s driving licence.

DECISION NOTICE –

The application before the Panel today is for the suspension or revocation  of the driver’s  joint private hire/hackney carriage licence number PH/HC2343  under S61  (1) (b) Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976.- any other reasonable cause. The licence is due to expire on 30^th September next year and the driver was first licensed by this Council on 16^th October 2017.  He was summarily suspended from his employment with Happicabs following the incident we have to consider today, though we understand that since then he has been reinstated in his role.

We have had the benefit of a detailed report from the Enforcement Officer and a notification email, plus a note of his subsequent telephone conversation with the driver, are before us. We have also received some supplemental information from Happicabs and we have considered this with great care.

On 24 September 2019, the Enforcement Officer received an email from Mr Hussein, a director of Happicabs, detailing an incident where the driver transported a passenger in the late hours of 23 September 2019 in Chelmsford.   This journey was not pre-booked through Happicabs and at the time Mr Uddin was driving a licensed vehicle. The driver had dropped off a customer at Market Road in Chelmsford at approximately 21.30 hours.   A female then entered his vehicle without an invite.   She requested that the driver take her home and she explained that she did not have a mobile telephone and had very little money to get home. This lady is apparently a regular customer of Happicabs and is suffering from various serious medical and social problems.   She has no family, has been diagnosed with a brain tumour and often drinks and puts herself in vulnerable situations.

It is inferred that the driver felt he had no choice but to begin to drive, but he also called the office in order to get the job booked so he could get the passenger home safely. Unfortunately the office were unable to create a job for the journey, Mr Hussain became aware of the situation and instructed the driver to drop the lady off where he picked her up.   Instead, he took her to the bus station and returned to the office for a disciplinary meeting with Mr Hussain following which he was suspended by the company with immediate effect.

The Enforcement Officer spoke with the driver over the telephone on 25 September 2019.   He provided the following information.

He has a clean licence and no criminal convictions.

He firstly confirmed that he dropped some passengers off in Market Road, Chelmsford, and that the lady concerned is a regular customer of Happicabs with known medical problems who just got in the vehicle and thereafter would not move. She asked to be dropped at a regular drop off location, and the driver asked her if she had booked the journey, and she said no as her phone was not with her.

The driver explained to the Officer that he wanted to help her and drop her off, and was not intending to charge her for the journey.   He was going to relay this message to the office, and indeed attempted to do so. However, Waqas Hussain then called the driver and asked if he had picked anyone up; he replied that he picked up the customer and Mr Hussain told him to drop the passenger back where he picked her up.

The driver then explained to the Enforcement Officer that the lady started crying when he turned around and told her that he could not do the job. He dropped her off at the bus station (presumably because it was deemed to be safer than the street) and drove off. The driver then went for a meeting with Mr Hussain where he was dismissed.

The driver is aware that all jobs he does should go through Happicabs and confirmed that normally this customer always books through Happicabs. He confirmed that he has a clean driving licence and no convictions, and was aware that it is an offence under section 46(1)(d) Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976, to operate a private hire vehicle without a private hire operator’s licence.   If the driver had carried out this booking then he would have carried out the actus reus of this offence. The driver’s licence therefore comes before us today to consider whether he remains a fit and proper person to hold a licence.

We have read the papers before us and we have heard from the driver, from Mr Hussein of Happicabs and from Mr Garelick of the GMB trade union, and note that The driver has now been reinstated in his employment. In the circumstances of this case we are pleased to note this.

We have listened to what the driver has to say and it tallies with the account he gave to the Enforcement Officer. It is clear to us that he understands that a paying passenger must have pre-booked their journey.

The primary function of this Committee is the protection of the public and we note the potential seriousness of this allegation. Plying for hire is strictly regulated and a PHV driver in a PHV vehicle may not pick up a random passenger in the street: all journeys must be pre-booked through a licensed operator. The test for the commencement of a prosecution is in two stages and although this lady had not booked her journey (the fact of which is clearly established) it is not in our view a case in which any further action is in the public interest. It is a truism that hard cases make bad law and in this case the driver did the right thing: he has lost some earnings and that is penalty enough where the technical offence is concerned. The passenger was extremely vulnerable and once she was in the car he probably was unable to dislodge her without using force. On being instructed to take her back to the point of pick up, he returned her to a place he felt to be safer, namely the bus station. In the circumstances he did the right thing and we consider it reasonable that he should retain his licence: we wish him well in the future.