Agenda item

Determination of a Private Hire/Hackney Carriage Driver's Application

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

Minutes:

The Licensing and Compliance Officer gave a summary of the report. The applicant had declared an offence of battery in 2016 for which she received a fine of £200.The applicant understood why her application was being referred and said that she has learnt a lesson following the conviction. The offence was 6 years ago during which her family were going through a rough time and there had not been any repeat offending.

 

The applicant said there was no excuse for what she had done. She noted while her family had been going through a bad time, things were better for her now.

 

At 11.30, the Panel retired to make its decision.

 

At 11.45, the Panel returned. The decision was read to the applicant.

 

 

DECISION NOTICE –

 

The application before the Panel today is the applicant’s application for a joint hackney carriage/PHV driver’s licence.  If successful, she has an offer of employment from 24 x 7 Ltd on the school contract side of the business.

 

We have had the opportunity of reading the officer’s report in this case, a copy of which has been served on the applicant, and we have also seen, as has she, the background documents annexed thereto, including an enhanced DBS Certificate dated 27th August 2019 showing one conviction dated 2nd February 2016 for an offence of battery under S39 Criminal Justice Act 1988. The applicant quite properly declared this conviction upon her application form.

 

Our attention has been drawn to section 2.14 of the suitability policy which states – “Where an applicant has a conviction for an offence of violence, or connected with any offence of violence, a licence will not be granted until at least 10 years have elapsed since the completion of any sentence imposed”.

 

The applicant therefore was asked to give some details about the conviction and she e-mailed the Licensing Department on 13 September. A copy of this is before us.  She explained that at the time of the conviction she and her family were going through a hard time; her brother had been assaulted and sustained injuries leaving him with disabilities and the family were being mocked for this; and furthermore, at the same time her mother was also critically ill.

 

The applicant states that she and her family have moved on and that she has learnt from her mistake. It was explained to her that in view of the fact she had a conviction for an offence of violence her application could not be dealt with administratively and that it would have to be considered by a senior manager. This was done and the matter was considered by the Environmental Health Manager (Commercial) in conjunction with the Chair of this Committee and as a consequence the matter has been referred to ourselves.  The reason for this decision was explained to the applicant and she understood why the referral was being made.  The primary function of this Committee is the protection of the public and an offence of violence is always regarded as being serious.

 

We have heard from the applicant this morning and we had the opportunity of observing her body language. She was plainly remorseful and the incident in question followed a number of totally unacceptable comments regarding close family members. We accept this mitigation and do not believe she poses a risk to members of the public.

 

We therefore grant this application and hope, in the nicest possible way, that we do not see the applicant before us again.