Agenda item

The driver was present.

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

·       MH has held a licence since 2004 (which is when electronic records begin) and possibly has earlier licences on paper records.

·       His previous licence expired in 2019 and his renewal application was considered by PSP in January 2020 due to a conviction for battery.

·       For violent offences such as battery the policy is not to licence until between 5 to 10 years has passed. The Magistrate has suggested a period of 2 years due to the offence being on the lower end of the scale, but it is 5 years as per the policy.

The appellant gave the following evidence:

·       MH said that he has a previous good record over 20 years and the conviction was a minor one.

·       He expressed remorse for his actions, which were very out of character. This is the only offence on his record, and he will not offend again.

·       MH said the offence occurred during a very stressful time and that he has financial and health issues.

After questioning from the committee, the following information was confirmed

·       It was confirmed that the committee cannot go behind criminal convictions, they stand and are not a matter for debate.

·       The magistrate’s recommendation of a two-year period without licence is not binding on the committee. The committee is led by the policy standard of 5-8 years for assault.

Decision

The Committee, having heard from the Licensing Officer and the Applicant, determined to refuse to grant MH’s Hackney Carriage Driver Licence under section 59(1)(a)(i) of the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions Act) 1976 and have applied the Council’s guidance on the relevance of criminal behaviour – General Policy (referred to hereafter as “the Policy”).  The Committee considered the comments made by the Magistrates’ Court for an application to be considered favourably after two years from the conviction as the Court considered the offence to be at the lower end of the guidelines however the Committee re-iterate that those comments on are not binding on this Committee.

In making the decision, the Committee could not go behind a criminal conviction and applied the section of the Policy on violence, namely, that as hackney carriage and private hire drivers have close contact with the public, in general a period of 5 to 10 years free of conviction for offences involving violence (depending on the nature and seriousness of the offence) will be required before an application is likely to be considered favourably; an application will normally be refused where the Applicant has a conviction for an offence of common assault (and other offences not listed here) and the conviction is less than 5 years prior to the date of the application. Between 5 and 8 years after conviction more weight will be given to the circumstances of the offence and any evidence adduced to show good character since the date of conviction.

The Policy states that a person with a current conviction for a serious crime need not be permanently barred from obtaining a licence but should be expected to remain free of conviction for an appropriate period and show adequate evidence of good character from the time of the conviction. Simply remaining free of conviction will not generally be regarded as sufficient evidence of good character.

Whilst the Committee heard that MH is sorry, the Members were not satisfied that MH provided supporting evidence to discharge his burden of proving that he is a fit and proper person to hold a licence or that he demonstrated exceptional circumstances to justify a departure from the Policy.