Agenda and minutes

The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting and drew attention to the safety information.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Steve Jones.

Councillor Fi Hance substitutes.

There were no declarations of interest.

Up to 30 minutes is allowed for this item.

Any member of the public or Councillor may participate in Public Forum.  The detailed arrangements for so doing are set out in the Public Information Sheet at the back of this agenda.  Public Forum items should be emailed to democratic.services@bristol.gov.uk and please note that the following deadlines will apply in relation to this meeting:-

Questions - Written questions must be received 3 clear working days prior to the meeting.  For this meeting, this means that your question(s) must be received in this office at the latest by 5 pm on 12 February2019.

Petitions and Statements - Petitions and statements must be received on the working day prior to the meeting.  For this meeting this means that your submission must be received in this office at the latest by 12.00 noon on17 February2019.

Please note, your time allocated to speak may have to be strictly limited if there are a lot of submissions. This may be as short as one minute.

There were no public forum statements.

To confirm as a correct record for signing by the Chair.

RESOLVED – that the minutes of the meeting of 17 December 2019 be confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

Recommended – that having regard to the quasi-judicial nature of the business on the Agenda, those Committee Procedure Rules relating to the moving of

motions and the rules of debate (CMR10 and 11) be suspended for the duration

of the meeting.

RESOLVED – that having regard to the quasi-judicial nature of the business on the Agenda, those Committee Procedure Rules relating to the moving of motions and the rules of debate (CMR10 and 11) be suspended for the duration of the meeting.

Recommended – that under Section 11A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972

the public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the ground that involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Part 1of Schedule 12A to the Act, as amended.

RESOLVED that under Section 11A (4) of the Local Government Act 1972 the public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the ground that involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Act, as amended.

RESOLVED – that this matter be deferred until the next PSP meeting on 3 March 2020 as the appellant is currently sick and overseas.

The Driver and his partner, who represented him were in attendance.

The Neighbourhood Enforcement Officer introduced the report and drew attention to the following:

·       The Neighbourhood Enforcement Team (NET) confirmed that the Committee should (1) consider the application for grant of a PHO license and (2) whether the driver is fit and proper to hold his current licenses following a NET investigation.

·       Alleged incident in the Customer Service Point in Temple Street on 20 December 2019. Driver attended GSP and behaved in threatening manner. This was witnessed by the CSP team leader who intervened with security.

·       On 2 January 2020 NET was informed by police that an unlicensed driver was driving the driver’s vehicle at Bristol Airport. The tyres on this vehicle were below the legal limit. The unlicensed driver was witnessed smoking in the vehicle.

·       Driver was interviewed in licensing office on 30 January regarding CSP conduct and incident at Bristol Airport.

·       Driver was initially calm at interview, but soon grew angry including outbursts of shouting and banging table. Driver said he was frustrated with the amount of time it took to get renewal and exemption.

·       Driver was angry with licensing officer, whom he has accused of being racist but later admitted that no racist comments were made. Driver has said he was generally a loud character with expressive body language.

·       With regard to Bristol Airport, driver said his neighbour had used the car to collect family member and was not on a job. Driver thought any person could drive private hire vehicle in a personal capacity, but this is against regulations. Driver is responsible for proper management of tyres on vehicle.

Committee was shown CCTV of the CSP incident. This footage did not have sound.

The driver and his partner made the following representations:

·       MG’s partner complained that he was interviewed alone. She was led to believe that she would be able to attend the interview with her partner. However, this was not possible as the interview only permits a solicitor representative.

·       The accusation of racism against a Licensing Officer was based on a perceived personal bias against the driver.

·       Driver had applied for a renewal on 27 November. This should take 7 days online or 10 days by post. However it took until 10 December to get a reply from licencing requesting additional information. There were numerous delays due to absences of licensing staff, including requests for information that had already been given.

·       Prior to entering the CSP, the driver had been waiting for 4 hours as licensing officers had told him they would be able to issue his license on that day. This was not the case and the driver had work booked in over Christmas that he would now not be able to carry out. This explains his frustration in the CCTV images.

·       In regards to the Bristol Airport incident, driver allowed a friend to borrow the car to pick someone up from the airport. We were not aware it was an offence to use  ...  view the full minutes text for item 41.

The Applicant was in attendance.

The Licensing Officer introduced the report and drew attention to the following:

·       On application for a Private Hire Driver License, a DVLA check established that the Applicant had three convictions from 2017/18. This includes driving without due care and attention (CD10) and two speeding offences.

·       CD10 is considered a major offense and the committee is requested to refuse this application.

·       If there are two major offenses within a 5 year period this would recommend a 5 year suspension.

·       Although the other offences were minor, there is a pattern of offending behaviour that stretches back to 1993.

·       There is an expectation that applicants should have 12 months of clean conduct on record before granting a license.

The driver gave evidence as follows:

·       The driver supplied a collection of good character references to the committee.

·       He understands that public safety is the highest consideration for the committee when considering license applications and acknowledges the offences that have caused his license to be suspended.

·       He acknowledged that it has been a long time since he took his driving test and his skills may have deteriorated. He has enrolled on an advanced driver skills course beginning in March to improve his ability and the service he can give the public.

·       Following suspension, he has been unable to work for 6 months. He is a carer for his elderly mother. As a taxi driver he can work around her needs.

·       His suspension is causing significant financial hardship and he is in danger of losing the family home.  The stress is causing health problems.

Following questions from Committee, the following was established:

·       That the driver’s licence was not suspended, but was not renewed because of driving convictions.

·       The October 2018 conviction was a collision with a cyclist while pulling out of a junction.

·       There is a pattern of speeding offences since the 1990s. The driver admitted that the full history looks bad, but that he is determined to be more careful now and not bow to pressure to work quickly. He cannot afford to lose his license and is pursuing an advanced driving skills course.

RESOLVED -

The Committee noted that the Applicant had been convicted of an offence of driving without due care and attention involving a collision with a cyclist that occurred in October 2018.  The Conviction was dated around May 2019. This is classed as a major traffic offence under the Council’s policy on offending behaviour.

It was also noted that there were a number of speeding offences over a period of time which demonstrated a pattern of offending behaviour giving rise to more of a cause for concern.

Under the Council’s policy a period of at least 6 months free from conviction is usually recommended before an application will be entertained in respect of an offence of driving without due care and attention. 

The Applicant was therefore outside of the policy when looking at the most recent conviction in isolation.  But, the pattern of poor driving standards  ...  view the full minutes text for item 42.

RESOLVED – that this matter be deferred to the next PSP meeting on 3 March 2020.