Agenda item

Agenda item

Renewal of a Private Hire Driver Licence - MB

The report of the Head of Planning, Building Control and Licensing is enclosed.

Minutes:

The Hearing Panel considered the report from the Head of Planning, Building Control and Licensing regarding the above application. MB was assisted at the hearing by an interpreter appointed by the city council. The oral representations of all of the parties who attended were also considered, in conjunction with the relevant guidance. The matter was considered in line with the established procedure for taxi licensing hearings.

 

The Licensing Unit Officer confirmed that this was a renewal of a Private Hire Driver Licence. MB had emailed the unit in March 2024 to state they had received 5 penalty points. After this, the unit were notified from CBS that there had been a change in MB’s DBS status due to a motoring offence. MB’s licence expired in May 2024 and the latest DBS was received in June 2024 noting a CD10 offence of driving without due care and attention. This renewal application had been referred to the Sub-Committee Hearing Panel in early July and MB stated then that they would require an interpreter, hence the hearing had been deferred to today’s date.

 

MB addressed the Hearing Panel and stated that they had been told to be careful but received 5 penalty points and a fine. The issue was that MB had parked, reversed and gently hit a property while the owner was not there. MB stated that they meant to return later to discuss this but expressed that there was no visible damage to their car or the property wall. In the meantime, the matter had been reported to the police and MB had responded and had to stay overnight at the police station. The matter was referred to court and MB stated that they were told to accept the penalty but they were not represented at court.

 

In response to questions from the Licensing Unit Officer, MB stated that the incident occurred on a Saturday and that they had stayed at the police station that same night, that the matter had been referred to the police very quickly and that they would report any future incidents to the police, Licensing Unit and insurers themselves.

 

In response to questions from the Hearing Panel, MB stated that they had waited at the property for an hour but had a customer in the vehicle and meant to return, that the incident occurred at 13:00, that they learnt a lesson and would leave a contact telephone number in future, MB was informed that the legal representative could not cover the court hearing, that a duty solicitor had assisted MB at the police station and that it was this solicitor who had not attended the first hearing which was then adjourned because of their absence and then they could not attend for the second hearing and MB was told to represent themselves.

 

In response to questions from the Legal Officer for the Hearing Panel, MB stated that they were only travelling at 3 mph when the wall was struck and that there was no visible damage, no duty solicitor was available due to the late hour of MB’s arrival to the police station, hence the overnight stay and that MB had an interpreter at the police station also.

 

The Hearing Panel considered that MB had no convictions previous or since and that they had an otherwise clean record and determined that a warning should be attached to remind MB to take ownership of any incidents caused by them in future.

 

Decision

 

To attach a warning to MB’s licence as to future conduct.

 

 

Supporting documents: