Agenda item

A report from the Executive Director (Operations) is attached.

Licence Holder 27/2020

The Executive Director (Operations) submitted a report relating to Licence Holder 27/2020 who was not in attendance at the virtual meeting.

A request had been made by their legal representative to adjourn this case to a later date due to the bereavement of a close family member.

Delegated decision:

That the Panel unanimously agreed to defer the case for Licence Holder 27/2020 and arrange a panel meeting for a later date.

Licence Holder 28/2020

The Executive Director (Operations) submitted a report relating to Licence Holder 28/2020 who attended the virtual meeting.

The Chair made introductions of the panel and the Legal Officer present outlined the procedure to be followed and clarified that all those present had read the report. The report which was accepted by the Licence Holder subject to the amendment below set out the reasons for the Licence Holder being before the Panel.

It was noted by the panel and accepted by the Licence Holder that there was an error in the report and he had notified the Licensing Service on the 9^th March 2021 (Not 2020 as stated in the report) by email and that he had received 5 points for speeding (Not 3 as stated in the report).

This Licence Holder had previously held a private hire driver’s licence continually since 5^th April 2012 until its expiry on the 12^th April 2021. The licence has been extended without prejudice until the date of this Committee hearing. He submitted an online application to renew his Private Hire driver’s licence on the 1^st April 2021. As part of the application the applicant was presented with the information shown in the agenda report.

The online application screen explains that any traffic offences must be declared irrespective of when they occurred. This client selected yes and disclosed a speeding offence. A subsequent check of this applicants DVLA driving licence indicated the following conviction:

This applicant is before the committee for the following reasons: - A) Failing to declare the convictions during his previous licence period as required by condition 13 of a private hire driver’s licence. B) The offence falls within the Conviction Guidelines.

This applicant was subsequently interviewed by a licensing enforcement officer. He explained that that he was travelling on the M62 moving a vehicle for British Car Auctions (BCA) when he was caught by a speed enforcement camera travelling in excess of 90mph. The applicant explained that due to the nature of the employment there was a delay in him receiving the penalty notice as it had been incorrectly issued to the previous keeper of the vehicle and then BCA before being passed to himself. He stated that he had not tried to deliberately mislead the licensing service and as soon as he received the letter he had notified the licensing service as per the conditions of his private hire drivers licence

This client was emailed a summary of what had been discussed over the telephone and asked whether he agreed with this or wanted to amend anything. He agreed with the summary which was attached at Appendix 1 of the report in the agenda pack.

This applicant was before members for consideration to be given as to his suitability to be a private hire driver in Bury.

Delegated decision:

The Panel carefully considered the report, the additional written documentation and oral representations by licence holder 28/2020.

They heard that the applicant had originally disclosed the offence but failed to declare this motoring conviction within the correct time frame as stipulated in the private hire driver’s licence conditions. The Panel accepted the explanation for the long delay between the conviction date and the applicant receiving information of the penalty notice. It was noted that there had been no recorded complaints made against the applicant since being a licence holder in 2012.

The applicant stated that he was intending to follow the guidelines. The Panel unanimously agreed that this was not a deliberate decision to evade disclosing the offence and taking into account the Council’s Conviction Policy and Guidelines and in accordance with the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976, resolved, to take no action against the licensee.