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Agenda item
Application for the Renewal of a Private Hire Driver Licence and an existing Private Hire Vehicle Licence GSGB
- Meeting of Sub B, Public Safety and Protection Committee, Tuesday, 7th May, 2019 10.00 am (Item 36.)
Minutes:
The Applicant was in attendance supported by Councillor Khan.
The Licensing Officer outlined the background to the application as follows:
· The application was for the renewal of a PHD licence and officers were asking the Committee to consider whether to take any action in relation to the existing Private Hire Vehicle Licence;
· The Applicant had held a Licence since 2016 and it had expired in April 2019;
· On applying for his Licence, the Applicant had disclosed 3 points for a conviction which he had not declared within 24 hours and this was a breach of the conditions of his licence;
· The Applicant’s DBS Certificate had revealed that the applicant had received 7 penalty points for failing to report an accident, however these points did not show on a DVLA check;
· The failure to report an accident was considered a major motoring offence in terms of Council policy;
· Since the conviction, the Applicant had twice renewed his licence without declaring the incident;
· The Applicant was the sole driver of vehicle;
· The Applicant also had a historic SP30 offence resulting in 3 penalty points;
· It was recommended that the application be refused in accordance with Council Policy in relation to major traffic offences and Section 51 of Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976;
· It was also recommended that the vehicle licence be revoked in line with Section 60 of the Act.
The Applicant presented his case as follows:
· The conviction had occurred as a result of an accident when he had opened his car door and hit a cyclist;
· This was a one off mistake and his PHD record was otherwise clear;
· He thought the incident was had been resolved until he received a court summons three months later;
· He apologised for the incident.
In response to a question as to why he had not reported the accident, the applicant reported that he had given the cyclist his details at the time and offered to help her, but she had reassured him that she was fine and he thought that it was resolved and therefore did not realise that he had to report it as a traffic accident. He also confirmed that he was not aware that he had to notify the Council within 24 hours of a conviction, but he had phoned the Council when he had received the Court summons but did not follow this up in writing.
In response to a further question, he confirmed that he did not know why the 7 points had not been added to his licence and had contacted the DVLA who had confirmed that the instruction to add the points needed to be received from the court.
Cllr Khan spoke in support of the applicant, who was a resident of his ward:
· He believed that the conviction was the result of an accident and the Applicant had tried to help the cyclist after the incident;
· He believed that the Applicant’s failure to declare the accident was a genuine misunderstanding and that he had contacted the Council by phone;
· He asked the Committee to view the case sympathetically.
In response to questioning about whether he attended the court case, the Applicant confirmed that he had attended to present his case but he did not recall putting in a plea.
At this point in the meeting the Licensing Officer, Applicant and Councillor Khan withdrew from the meeting while the Committee considered the application. Everyone returned to the meeting to hear the decision.
RESOLVED –
(1) that the application for the renewal for the Private Hire Licence be GRANTED for the following reason:
The conviction was a result of an isolated offence and the applicant had an otherwise good record since holding a PHD Licence;
(2) that no action be taken in relation to the Vehicle Licence;
(3) The Applicant be give a warning to report any further convictions to the Council within 24 hours and to advise that any further convictions were likely to result in his licence being revoked or an application being refused.
Supporting documents:
- Restricted enclosure View the reasons why document 36./1 is restricted