To confirm the Minutes of the Licensing Applications Sub-Committee 3 meeting held on 8 January 2019.

The Minutes of the meeting held on 8 January 2019 were confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

At this point, the following motion will be moved by the Chair:

“That, pursuant to Section 100A of the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended) members of the press and public be excluded during consideration of the following items on the agenda, as it is likely that there would be disclosure of exempt information as defined in the relevant paragraphs of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of that Act”

Resolved –

That, pursuant to Section 100A of the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended), members of the press and public be excluded during consideration of the following item of business as it was likely that there would be disclosures of exempt information as defined in paragraphs 1, 2, 3 and 5, specified in Part 1 of Schedule 12A (as amended) to that Act.

The Director of Environment and Neighbourhood Services submitted a report asking the Sub-Committee to consider the suspension or revocation of a hackney carriage vehicle licence, the suspension or revocation of a private hire vehicle driver’s licence and two appeals against penalty points allocated to private hire vehicle driver’s licences.

A summary of the circumstances of each case was appended to the report.

ZAR, BW, and NHA were all present at the meeting and addressed the Sub-Committee.  ZAR was accompanied by his wife.

LM was not present at the meeting and the appeal was heard in his absence on the basis of the written representations submitted.

Resolved –

(1)      That the hackney carriage vehicle driver’s licence in respect of ZAR remain in force, with a warning as to future conduct;

(2)      That the appeal by BW against the allocation of six penalty points on his private hire vehicle driver’s licence be dismissed;

(3)      That the appeal by LM against the allocation of six penalty points on his private hire vehicle driver’s licence be dismissed;

(4)      That the private hire vehicle licence in respect of NHA be suspended for a period of 14 days with effect from the end of 21 days’ notice of the decision being given due to the following reasonable causes pursuant to section 61 of the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976:

(a)      that NHA had carried a controlled substance in his private hire vehicle, as detailed in the report;

(b)      that NHA had given inconsistent explanations as to why the controlled substance had been in his vehicle, as detailed in the report;

(c)      that NHA had not taken the controlled substance to a police station, even though he had not been working that day;

(d)      the issue of public safety given the circumstances of the incident.