Agenda item

The driver and his wife were in attendance.

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

·       This is an application to renew a Private Hire Driver (PHD), and Hackney Carriage Driver (HCD) Licence. EE was given 3 penalty points in November 2020, which he did not declare when they were received. They were declared on the renewal application form.

·       EE has 6 current points on his licence, and 6 expired points (these remain on record for a year after expiry).

·       EE previously appeared at PSP in Mar 2019 with 9 points on his licence. The committee considered his literacy difficulties last time and reminded him that his conditions required him to declare any points in future and that any future offence of this nature would result in a referral to PSP.

·       The policy is that isolated convictions may not require action, but if there are several offences, they should be considered by the committee. Failure to declare points would usually result in a 6-month suspension. Officers recommended refusal of this application.

The applicant gave the following evidence:

·       Not declaring the points was an honest mistake,  it was declared  on the application form, but the applicant did not inform the licensing department when they were received. This was not intentional.

·       EE has difficulty with his English, his wife has better English so will do all the paperwork from now on.

After questioning from the committee, the following information was confirmed:

·       The last committee was understanding about language issues and took a lenient approach. However, they were very clear that EE should declare any future offences and should not speed again. 

·       For the most recent offence, EE was travelling at 29mph in a 20mph limit.

·       EE has been driving for 17 years he has not received any customer complaints.

Decision

That EE’s application to renew his PHD and HCD licences be refused on the ground contained in section 61(1)(b) of the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976 namely “any other reasonable cause”

Reasons for Decision

EE had applied to renew both his PHD and HCD licences on 29 January 2021 (which expired on 26 February 2021) when he declared “…I have new penalty added to my driving licence which is 3 points.”  A search was carried out on EE’s DVLA licence which revealed a speeding offence dated 12 November 2020 of which the Licensing Team was not previously aware.  It is a requirement of the PHD licence conditions that motoring convictions or endorsements should be notified to the Council in writing by the following working day.  EE had failed to promptly declare this offence to the Council.  The DVLA licence also revealed three more speeding endorsements between February 2017 and March 2018.

This was not the first time that EE had failed to declare motoring convictions to the Council as he had appeared before members of this committee on 26 March 2019 due to having nine penalty points on his licence, failing to declare penalty points on his renewal forms and failing to declare the points at the time they were received.  On that occasion the Committee accepted EE’s explanation that this was not intentional and may be due to his literacy difficulties.  No action was therefore taken on his licence but it was made clear to him that he should be careful in the future to avoid further speeding convictions as if he were to receive another 3 points, this would need to be referred back to the Committee. He was also advised to take full responsibility for filling out renewal forms and declaring all convictions.

It was again contended on behalf of EE (by his wife) that there were language barriers and that she would in future complete all application forms on EE’s behalf.  The failure to declare the speeding offence was not intentional and EE had been licensed by the Council for 17 years.

The Members were concerned at the number and frequency of the speeding endorsements which together demonstrated a pattern of poor driving standards over a period of time.  Where 3 or fewer penalty points are imposed as a result of a speeding conviction, this is classed as a minor traffic offence under the Council’s policy on offending behaviour.  Isolated convictions will not generally prevent a person from having a licence but where there are several offences of this nature the applicant will normally be expected to show a period free of conviction of at least 6 months, in which case a 6 months suspension would usually be imposed.  Where an individual fails to promptly declare such convictions resulting in the offence, that individual will not generally be allowed to benefit from the period of time that has elapsed since the offence.

The Committee were concerned that EE had failed, not for the first time, to declare his latest speeding offence to the Council, again claiming that it was due to literacy and language difficulties.  The Members did not accept this explanation since EE had been issued with a very clear warning when he previously appeared before Committee of the importance of taking responsibility for complying with the conditions of his licence.  An experienced licensee of 17 years is expected to be well acquainted with the conditions and rules applicable to his trade.  This failure to promptly disclose the speeding offence was seen as behaviour that questioned honesty and therefore the suitability of EE to be granted a licence.

It was therefore unanimously decided that both applications should be refused.