Agenda item

The Service Director Legal Services will submit a report seeking approval to recommend to Council an amendment to Section 6 of the Council’s Convictions Policy which specifically addresses re-applications for Private Hire and Hackney Carriage Driver Licences following refusal or revocation.

The Service Director Legal Services submitted a report seeking approval to recommend to Council an amendment to Section 6 of the Council’s Convictions Policy which specifically addressed re-applications for Private Hire and Hackney Carriage Driver Licences following refusal or revocation.

Currently, when a licence application was refused or revoked by the Council (or by another Local Authority), further applications were normally refused  if received within one year form the date of the refusal/revocation as it was deemed that the personal circumstances would not have changes significantly within that period to make them ‘fit and proper’ to hold a licence.  In line with current policy, however, it had become apparent that a period of one year was not a significant enough period of time for someone to demonstrate that their personal circumstances had changed to such an extent that they were then deemed to be fit and proper.  It was felt that applicants needed to be able to confidently prove that they had changed significantly and to show adequate evidence that they were fit and proper in order to comply with the policy and a timescale of one year did not allow for this.

It was suggested, therefore, that the convictions policy be amended to reflect the severity of an immediate revocation/revocation and/or refusal and that Section 6 of the Policy be amended to require a time of five years to have elapsed following an immediate revocation/revocation and/or refusal before it was deemed that a person’s circumstances had changed significantly to make them ‘fit and proper’.

In the ensuing discussion, the following matters were raised:

·         The proposal was generally welcomed as a means of giving further protection to the travelling public and was similar to the conditions imposed by neighbouring authorities and was also in line with recently published national guidance

·         The amendment to the conditions would not be deemed as a breach of the Human Rights Act by denying an applicant/driver to work.  It was noted that applicants/drivers still had a right to appeal the decision within the Magistrates Court

·         There would be a full consultation undertaken on the review of the Convictions Policy currently under review, this proposal, however, was suggested as an interim measure to address an identified weakness in the current policy

·         In relation to the application process, it was noted that whilst there was currently no national database of driver applications/convictions etc., applicants were asked to indicate on the application form whether or not they had applied for a licence within another Local Authority area and to detail whether or not they had any convictions.  They were also asked to sign a disclaimer indicating that what they had declared was correct

·         Arising out of the above, reference was made to and details were given of the application process.  A copy of the requirements would be sent to Members upon request

·         The Chair explained the procedures in place for immediately revoking licences, which included consultation with himself. In such circumstances he was barred from taking part in the Panel meeting called in the event of a driver appealing to Members

·         In response to questioning, it was reported that applicants/drivers had to consider affordability prior to taking cases to Magistrates Court and indeed if they lost their case, the Council always asked for costs to be awarded

RECOMMENDED TO COUNCIL that Section 6 of the Guideline Policy for Criminal Convictions be amended to read as follows:

Where a Licence has been refused or revoked by the Council (or another Local Authority) a further application will be refused if received within five years from the date of the refusal/revocation, as it will be deemed that the persons circumstances have not changed significantly within that period to make them ‘fit and proper’.