Agenda and minutes

It was proposed and seconded that Mr Potter be elected Chairman of the Sub-Committee for this meeting.

RESOLVED

That Mr Potter be elected to be the Chairman for this meeting.

There were no declarations of interests made at the meeting.

There were no late items for consideration at this meeting.

Resolved

That in accordance with section 100A of the Local Government Act 1972 (the Act) the public and the press shall be excluded from the meeting during consideration of agenda item 5 for the reason that it is likely in view of the nature of the business to be transacted that there would be disclosure to the public of ‘exempt information’ being information of the nature described in Paragraph 1 (information relating to any individual) of Part I of Schedule 12A to the Act and the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.

The Sub-Committee received the procedure which would be followed during the hearing of the application (copy attached to the official minutes).

The Sub-Committee considered a confidential report in respect of Mr SH, who had applied for a Private Hire Driver’s Licence in the District of Chichester.  The applicant was present at the hearing and was unaccompanied.

Mr Barson introduced the report.  He drew attention to the provisions of the Local Government Act (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976 that required that the Sub-Committee should not grant a driver licence unless the applicant was deemed to be a ‘fit and proper’ person.  The term was intentionally broad to enable each application to be considered on its individual merits.  He also referred to the test set out by James Button in his book ‘Button on Taxis’, which suggested that the test should be whether or not someone would allow a member of their family or someone they cared for to get into a vehicle with this person alone. In referring to the details in Mr SH’s application form and supporting documents, which had highlighted that he had three current points on his driving licence for exceeding a 30mph speed limit, had two references from friends, that he had type 2 diabetes which was being managed and had therefore passed the DVLA Group 2 licence Medical Driver Standards examination.  Mr SH had attended an interview with Mr Barson on 27 October 2016 and had been accompanied by his daughter who had translated as he struggled to hold a conversation in English.  Mr Barson advised that a requirement for becoming a Private Hire Driver was that a driver must be able to communicate in English otherwise confusion could arise with customers.  Mr SH lived in Southampton and had applied to the City Council for a Private Hire Driver licence, where he had failed the knowledge test on three occasions and his application had now expired. 

Mr Barson informed the Sub-Committee that drivers must be able to communicate in English, otherwise not being able to understand passengers could lead to confusion.  There were a number of reasons why Mr SH had considered himself to be a suitable applicant to be granted a licence.  These included the award of a BTEC Introduction to the Role of the Professional Taxi and Private Hire Driver Level 2 Certificate, a three year Private Hire Driver Licence issued by Transport for London that had not required an English test, that he had passed the Southampton City Council’s Driver Assessment test, and attendance at two English language courses.

Mr Barson asked a number of questions of Mr SH.  Mr SH confirmed his name, date of birth and address.  The reason for him applying to Chichester District Council for a Private Hire Driver’s Licence was that although he had been granted a licence by Transport for London and had driven for Uber there.  However, due to the distance of driving from Southampton to London to work, he had firstly applied to Southampton City Council and now Chichester as it was less distance than travelling to London and was a smaller City.  If he was granted  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.