Agenda item

Graham Lange, Licensing Officer, introduced this exempt report from JM applying for a Private Hire Driver Licence and made the following points:

·       JM had committed 8 separate archived motoring offences of various kinds between 1979 and 1997, 4 separate offences between 2006 and 2009, a further 4 separate offences between July 2018 and May 2020, as well as an additional totting up offence in January 2021 due to the number of penalties received

·       He had received a driving ban for these for 6 months from 22^nd January 2021 and had therefore been required to surrender his licence on 25^th February 2021

·       Whilst a single offence might be explained as a result of a particular set of circumstances, multiple offences suggested a pattern of behaviour

·       Under existing rules, the licence will not be granted until at least 5 years from conviction or ban whichever is the later. Since the date of the last (non-totting up) offence was 8^th May 2020, this would not be until 2025.

·       Where someone is disqualified from driving, it would be at least a year following the restoration of the licence until it is approved

·       The burden of proof lies with the applicant to show why the Sub-Committee should depart from policy

JM made the following points concerning his application:

·       I am guilty of the offences given

·       My brother in law was in hospital for two months intensive care and on the day of the offence in May 2020 my sister in law was rushed into hospital with a lung problem and subsequently died.

·       I tried to pick up the phone to a call from my daughter but saw the Police behind me and realised I shouldn’t have answered it. I have been been paying the price for this mistake over the last 2 years

·       I do not currently hold my driving licence as there is backlog and the DVLA haven’t yet returned it to me

The Sub-Committee was advised that they could not consider an application until a DVLA licence was formally approved and would therefore need to defer this hearing and reconsider it once the licence had been granted.

RESOLVED (unanimously) – Given the applicant does not possess a current DVLA licence the committee cannot grant an application for a PHD Licence in accordance with section 51 of the Local government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976 (“the Act”).

Reasons: The holding of a DVLA licence is a pre-requisite to being granted a licence under section 51 of the Act.  The committee heard that since JM’s disqualification had come to an end, he had applied to the DVLA for restoration of his driving licence but to date, he was still waiting to hear back from them.  In the circumstances the Committee were not able to determine whether or not JM was a fit and proper person to hold a PHD licence as the absence of a DVLA licence debarred the Council from granting him a PHD licence.  Once JM’s DVLA licence has been restored to him the matter of whether he is a fit and proper person can be considered by the committee.  The application could either be brought back before Committee or JM could submit a fresh application with no additional fee.