Minutes:
The Applicant was in attendance with his brother.
The Licensing Officer outlined the background to the case as follows:
· The Applicant had held a PHD Licence since 2007 and on applying for renewal in October 2019, had declared a speeding offence;
· he had failed to inform the Licensing Office at the time of the offence which was a breach of the conditions of his licence;
· the Applicant’s PHV licence was due to expire on 26 November 2019;
· A DVLA check found that the Applicant had 3 motoring offences 2 which had taken place in November 2017 and one in June 2019;
· The Applicant wasn’t required to declare the previous two convictions as he did so at the previous renewal, but he had not declared at time of the offences;
· When his previous licence was renewed, he had been reminded to declare offences at the time;
· There was a reference to a complaint about the Applicant in 2013 in relation to using a mobile phone while driving;
· Council Policy on minor traffic offences recommended refusal until there had been a 6 month period free of conviction.
The Applicant presented his case as follows (a paper copy was circulated to the Committee):
· Taxi work was his livelihood and he would struggle to find alternative work;
· Without his licence he would not be able to work and he had a wife and two children to support;
· He apologised for not informing the Licensing Office at the time of the conviction, but this was a mistake and he had been open about declaring the offences on renewing his licence.
The Committee advised the Applicant that although Members sympathised with his personal circumstances and financial hardship, they could not take these issues into account their overriding consideration was public safety and protection.
The Applicant was in attendance with his brother.
The Licensing Officer outlined the background to the case as follows:
The Applicant had held a PHD Licence since 2007 and on applying for renewal in October 2019, had declared a speeding offence;
he had failed to inform the Licensing Office at the time of the offence which was a breach of the conditions of his licence;
the Applicant’s PHV licence was due to expire on 26 November 2019;
A DVLA check found that the Applicant had 3 motoring offences 2 which had taken place in November 2017 and one in June 2019;
The Applicant wasn’t required to declare the previous two convictions as he did so at the previous renewal, but he had not declared at time of the offences;
When his previous licence was renewed, he had been reminded to declare offences at the time;
There was a reference to a complaint about the Applicant in 2013 in relation to using a mobile phone while driving;
Council Policy on minor traffic offences recommended refusal until there had been a 6 month period free of conviction.
The Applicant presented his case as follows (a paper copy was circulated to the Committee):
Taxi work was his livelihood and he would struggle to find alternative work;
Without his licence he would not be able to work and he had a wife and two children to support;
He apologised for not informing the Licensing Office at the time of the conviction, but this was a mistake and he had been open about declaring the offences on renewing his licence.
The Committee advised the Applicant that although Members sympathised with his personal circumstances and financial hardship, they could not take these issues into account their overriding consideration was public safety and protection.
In response to questioning the Applicant responded:
His first two offences had taken place on the M32 where new speed cameras had been installed. He had committed the second offence before being notified about the first offence and that was the reason he had made the same mistake twice in a short space of time;
He was driving at 45mph in a 40mph zone;
The third offence was caught by a mobile camera on the Portway and he was driving 45mph;
He did not drive at excessive speeds and all the convictions were just over the speed limit;
He had previously attended a speeding awareness course;
He did not recall the email from the Licensing Officer reminding him to declare convictions at the time;
He had not read the conditions of his Licence and he had learnt that he must do that in the future.
The Applicant’s brother spoke in support his character and said that this had been a stressful time for him and he had learnt from his mistakes.
At this point in the meeting, the Licensing Officer, Applicant and his brother withdrew from the meeting while the committee considered the application. They returned to hear the decision.
RESOLVED – that the application be refused at the current time and officers be delegated to approve the application after Friday 13th December 2019;
REASON
In accordance with Council Policy, applications should be refused until a period of 6 months free of conviction in the case of minor motoring offences and this period did not expire until after Friday 6th December 2019.
The Applicant was reminded to declare any further offences at the time of the conviction.
It was noted that no action was required in relation to the Private Hire Vehicle Licence as this expired on 26th November 2019.
Supporting documents: