Agenda and minutes

Venue: Jeavons Room, First Floor. View directions

Contact: Maggie Jennings  01954 713029

Items
No. Item

21.

Declarations of Interest

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest.

22.

Minutes of Previous Meeting pdf icon PDF 80 KB

That the Vice-Chairman be authorised to sign the Minutes of the meeting held on 26 March 2008. 

Minutes:

The Committee authorised the Chairman to sign, as a correct record, the Minutes of the meeting held on  26 March 2008.

23.

Exclusion of Press and Public

Minutes:

The Committee RESOLVED that the press and public be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the following item in accordance with the provisions of Section 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended) (exempt information as defined in Paragraph 1 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act). 

24.

Application for Grant of Private Hire Driver's Licence

Councillors RE Barrett and A Riley are precluded from attending this meeting as they formed part of the appeal panel on 6 September 2005 to determine an appeal by the same applicant before the Committee today. The remaining members of that appeal panel are no longer district councillors.

 

Appendices, A, B and C are not available electronically. 

Minutes:

The Committee considered an application for a private hire driver’s licence.

 

In 2005, a previous application to South Cambridgeshire District Council had been refused. Since then, the Licensing Authority’s policy in relation to driver’s licences and relevancy of conditions had been revised. The Committee received evidence from the applicant and his current employer. The Committee

·                               noted the Council’s current policy and the Licensing Officer’s report

·                               received verbal submissions from the applicant and his employer in considering whether or not the applicant was a fit and proper person to hold a private hire driver’s licence.

·                               Sought and received legal advice in relation to the application and the failure to comply with the Principal Solicitor’s request that the applicant confirm, in writing, the reasons for his failure to attend the Council’s previous hearing on this matter.

 

The Chairman explained the role of the Committee, which included consideration of public safety. She asked the Applicant why he had not attended the last hearing of this matter. He explained that he had been at a court in London in connection with a civil matter, namely an application by him asking the court to remove from the Licensing Officer’s report, and therefore from the consideration of Members, a copy of the court report relating to his earlier appeal against sentence. The applicant indicated that the judge had said that he could not interfere with the licensing authority proceedings but that the Judge would not allow the report on the appeal against sentence to be used in any appeal proceedings. The Principal Solicitor indicated that it was a matter for the Committee to give such weight to the explanation as they thought appropriate and that they should not attach significant weight to his failure to provide a written explanation, as a verbal explanation had been provided both to the Committee and the Principal Solicitor.

 

The applicant had an extensive criminal record as revealed on the enhanced report from the Criminal Records Bureau, obtained by the Licensing Officer in relation to the application. The Committee noted that, after conviction for aggravated burglary in 1997, the applicant had received a term of imprisonment of six years, which had been reduced, on appeal, to five years. He had been released in 2002 but, in 2004, had been convicted of obtaining pecuniary advantage by deception which he explained was as a consequence of him having driven a private hire vehicle without a licence for a period of six months in 2003. He received a 36 months conditional discharge.

 

The applicant made brief representations about his application and stated that he had been working as a contracted driver for the past five years under an exemption granted by the law.  His employer confirmed this statement.  The Committee noted that Section 75 of the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976 had been repealed in 2007 and that the applicant therefore needed a licence to be able to continue working as a driver. He stated that, should he not be successful in obtaining  ...  view the full minutes text for item 24.