Report attached.
Minutes:
The Licensing Manager presented reports submitted by the Assistant Director (Localities) regarding applications for Public/Private Hire Vehicles Drivers’ Licences.
The Applicants were invited to attend the meeting for separate hearings and the Chair outlined the procedure to be followed. The Applicants and their representatives were invited to address the Panel separately on their applications and any matters referred to in the Officer’s report.
1. Applicant 31/2014 attended the meeting and was represented by his brother in law. The Licensing Manager summarised a report explaining that the Applicant had previously held a hackney carriage driver’s licence and a hackney carriage vehicle licence granted by this authority. On 5 September 2012 the Applicant had appeared before the Licensing and Safety Panel in relation to an allegation of rape on a female passenger which resulted in his hackney carriage driver’s licence being revoked. The report was accepted by the Applicant and his brother in law.
The Applicant addressed the Panel and explained that he deeply regretted the incident and that it was a mistake. The Applicant’s brother in law stated that he realises that having sex in his vehicle was wrong but that it was consensual and he had dropped the female passenger off outside her home afterwards.
The Applicant’s brother in law stated that the Applicant had been a taxi driver for 9 years and that the incident had completely tarnished his character. The whole family was aware of the episode and it had been a very difficult time for them all. It will have repercussions on his future as it is information disclosed on his DBS and he will struggle to get another job
Licen
The Applicant’s brother in law explained that the Applicant had a wife and 4 children to support and needed the opportunity now to be able to do so. He explained that he was of good character and
cared every day for his Father who was paralysed from the neck down. He needed the chance now to re-prove himself. The Applicant brought three character references which were circulated to the Licensing and Safety Panel.
Delegated Decision:
The Panel carefully considered the written report and the oral representations made by the Applicant and his brother in law and all the evidence presented including written references, and with due consideration of the potential effect on the Applicant’s livelihood and family life, and taking into account the Council’s Conviction Guidelines, the Panel found that;
· Greater Manchester Police believe that despite the Applicant not being charged with any offences, as the female had declined to pursue the matter due to the impact the investigation was having on her health, it is directly relevant to a working role with members of the public.
· The Crown Prosecution Service considered that the evidential burden to prosecute the charge had been met in that there was felt to be a realistic prospect of conviction.
· The allegation made against the Applicant in July 2012 was of a serious nature and was relatively recent.
· The Applicant had provided only a limited explanation of his version of events and even based upon that version, he admitted that activities of a sexual nature had occurred in his hackney carriage vehicle on the night in question.
· That even based on the Applicants version of event, his behaviour had been unacceptable.
· Members of the Licensing and Safety Panel had previously revoked the Applicant’s Private Hire Licence and had therefore determined the Applicant not to be ‘fit and proper’
· Although the Applicant had appealed the Panel’s decision to Bury Magistrates’ Court, this was dismissed.
The Panel therefore determined the Applicant not to be a fit and proper person in accordance with the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976 and therefore resolved that the Applicant identified as 31/2014 be refused a Private Hire Driver’s Licence.
The Applicant was informed of their right to appeal to the Magistrates’ Court within 21 days.
2. The Applicant 32/2014 did not attend the meeting and the Licensing Manager explained that he had been in contact with the Applicant who had stated he was in hospital and due to be discharged on Friday 10 October 2014.
The Licensing and Safety Panel agreed to defer the matter until the next meeting.