Issue - meetings

Revised Taxi Licensing Suitability Policy

Meeting: 23/10/2019 - Council (Item 193)

Revised Taxi Licensing Suitability Policy

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Council received a report submitted by Councillor D Andrews as Chairman of the Licensing Committee, detailing recommendations from the Committee to Council on the draft Taxi Licensing Suitability policy. 

 

Councillor D Andrews said the Council was under a statutory obligation to ensure public safety, and took this duty seriously.  He commended the draft policy, and proposed a motion that the recommendations be approved.  Councillor P Boylan seconded the motion. 

 

After being put to the meeting, and a vote taken, the motion was declared CARRIED. 

 

RESOLVED to approve the adoption of the revised Taxi Licensing Suitability Policy, as detailed in the report, to take effect from 1 November 2019.

 

 


Meeting: 21/08/2019 - Licensing Committee (Item 116)

116 Consideration of the responses to the draft Revised Taxi Licensing Suitability Policy pdf icon PDF 76 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Head of Housing and Health submitted a report setting out the responses received during the consultation on the revised “Suitability Policy” to be applied to the licensed Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Trade. The Service Manager (Licensing and Enforcement) provided a summary of the report.

 

Councillor R Bolton sought and was provided with clarification that enhanced DBS checks were carried out every three years on every driver.  Councillor Bolton suggested that paragraph 3.2 should be amended by the inclusion of a further category “assault to emergency services officers”.  The Service Manager (Licensing and Enforcement) explained that an assault on such an officer would be treated with the same seriousness as an assault on a Police Officer. 

 

Councillor C Wilson was concerned that the policy was too draconian and might put off applicants who had committed minor offences many years before. The Service Manager (Licensing and Enforcement) explained that rarely did people interested in becoming a licensed driver read the authority’s policies even though they were freely available.  When Officers were contacted by potential applicants, any past convictions were discussed and individuals were told that they were not a bar to applying but that the policy was a guide to how certain convictions might be viewed.

 

Councillor C Wilson acknowledged that licensed drivers were exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act but would still like to have seen a policy that was closer to the time scales within that Act with regards to when convictions were considered “spent”. People could reform and should sometimes be given a chance.

 

The Chairman explained that he and the Head of Housing and Health regularly reviewed Hackney Carriage and Private Hire driver applications from those with convictions and that some had been allowed to be licensed when the individual circumstances and evidence had been explained. 

 

The Service Manager (Licensing and Enforcement) explained the advice provided by his service to applicants generally and in relation to fees being returned if the applicant was unsuccessful.  He added that it was the applicant’s responsibility to ensure that they provided evidence that they were “fit and proper” to hold an appropriate licence.

 

Members supported the endorsement of the “Suitability Policy” as amended and that the revised policy be submitted to Council on 23 October 2019 for adoption to take effect from 1 November 2019.

 

It was moved by Councillor R Bolton and seconded by Councillor N Symonds that the revised “Suitability Policy” as amended be endorsed and submitted to Council on 23 October 2019 for adoption for the policy to be effective from 1 November 2019. After being put to the meeting and a vote taken, the motion was declared CARRIED.

 

RESOLVED – that (A) the “Suitability Policy” as amended be endorsed;

 

(B)   the revised policy be submitted to Council for adoption on 23 October 2019 to take effect from 1 November 2019.