The Director of HR, Law and Asset Management submitted a report which sought Members approval of a revised policy in relation to the criteria applicable when considering an applicant for a Private Hire or Hackney Carriage Driver Licence who has criminal convictions.

The report gave details regarding the guidance issued to district councils when deciding to grant licences to hackney carriage and private hire drivers and outlined the timescales during which licence applications should be considered further to an applicant being convicted of an offence.  A summary of the proposed key changes to the existing policy was attached to the report.

The Chair supported the report and invited comments from Members.

Councillor Niblock welcomed the new policy, however, he was opposed to changing the number of years an applicant was expected to remain free of conviction for some offences from 3 years in the current policy to 3 to 5 years as he felt this would be a retrograde step.  He also felt that the paragraph regarding renewals should be set out clearly.

Councillor Niblock also pointed out that the new policy stated that an applicant would be referred to the Licensing Panel if they had 10 or more penalty points on their driving licence for convictions for miscellaneous offences and felt that this should remain at 6 points as within the existing policy.

Mr Ken Abraham, Legal Advisor to the Committee pointed out that each case was determined upon its own merits and therefore it would be the decision of Members of the Committee whether or not to allow each application.

Councillor Bridson expressed her concerns regarding convictions of drunkenness and felt that a more pro-active approach should be taken with regard to this.  The Licensing Manager confirmed that safety campaigns were undertaken with drivers and this message could be included within one of these campaigns.

It was moved by Councillor Sue Taylor and seconded by Councillor Glasman that -

“The number of penalty points an applicant would have on their driving licence for convictions for miscellaneous offences before being referred to the Licensing Panel would remain at 6.”

The motion was put and carried (10:0).

It was moved as an amendment to the motion by Councillor Niblock and seconded by Councillor Bridson that -

“The number of years an applicant was expected to remain free of conviction for some offences would remain at 3 years”

The amendment to the motion was put and lost (2:8).

It was then moved as a further amendment by Councillor Sue Taylor and seconded by Councillor Ian Lewis that -

“The policy detailed in Appendix 3 within the report be adopted with immediate effect by the Committee as the policy to be used when determining applications for Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Driver Licences when considering licensed drivers who incur a criminal conviction.”

The motion as now amended was put and carried (9:0) (Councillor Niblock abstaining).

Resolved - That the policy detailed in Appendix 3 within the report be adopted with immediate effect by the Committee as the policy to be used when determining applications for Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Driver Licences when considering licensed drivers who incur a criminal conviction with the amendment that the number of penalty points an applicant would have on their driving licence for convictions for miscellaneous offences before being referred to the Licensing Panel would remain at 6.