Chichester District Council
Agenda and minutes

Agenda and minutes

Venue: Committee Room 2, East Pallant House. View directions

Contact: Katherine Jeram on 01243 534674  Email:  kjeram@chichester.gov.uk

Items
No. Item

7.

Election of Chairman

Minutes:

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

 

Resolved

 

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

 

8.

Declarations of Interests

Members and officers are reminded to make any declarations of disclosable pecuniary, personal and/or prejudicial interests they might have in respect of matters on the agenda for this meeting.

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest made at the meeting.

9.

Late Items

(a)  Items added to the agenda papers and made available for public inspection;

(b)  Items which the Chairman has agreed should be taken as matters of urgency by reason of special circumstances to be reported to the meeting.

Minutes:

There were no late items for consideration at the meeting.

10.

Exclusion of Press and Public

PART II

(Items for which the press and public are/may be excluded)

 

That in accordance with section 100A of the Local Government Act 1972 (the Act) the public and the press be excluded from the meeting during the consideration of the following item on the agenda 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.

Minutes:

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.

 

11.

Hearing Procedure

Minutes:

The Sub-Committee noted the hearing procedure.

12.

Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976 - Application for a Private Hire Operator's Licence - Mr IA

Minutes:

The Sub-Committee considered a confidential report in respect of Mr IA, who had applied for a licence to drive private hire vehicles in the District of Chichester.  The applicant was present at the hearing.

 

Mr Barson introduced the report.  He explained that the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976 stated that a licence should not be granted unless the applicant was deemed to be fit and proper.  The definition was intentionally broad to enable local authorities to consider the individual merits of each case.  He also referred to the test set out by James Button in his book ‘Button on Taxis’ which suggested the test should be whether you would allow a member of your family or someone you cared for to get into a vehicle with this person and that if there were some doubts then further consideration should be given.  He outlined the reasons for referring Mr IA’s application to the Sub-Committee and provided details of his criminal conviction.  He referred to paragraph 5b of the Council’s guidelines on the relevancy of previous convictions circulated with the report.  An applicant was required to be free of a conviction for between three and ten years depending on the nature of the offence.  Mr IA had no points on his driving licence as at 16 May 2017.  Mr IA’s application had been submitted before the commencement of the Council’s requirement for applicants to take a knowledge test.

 

Mr IA confirmed his name, date of birth and address.  He confirmed that he had received and read the agenda papers.

 

Mr IA provided an explanation of the particular circumstances surrounding the incident that had led to his conviction and provided details of the sentence that he had received.  He also provided details of how he had turned his life around since the incident.  He advised the Sub-Committee of the reason for him applying to Chichester District Council for a Private Hire Driver’s Licence.  He confirmed that he had applied for a Private Hire Driver’s Licence at another Local Licensing Authority but had failed the Knowledge Test.

 

Mr IA responded to questions from the Sub-Committee.  He stated that he would be willing to undertake this Licensing Authority’s Knowledge Test.  If he was granted a Private Hire Driver’s Licence he intended to work for Uber and would carry out his work in Chichester. He had applied to work in the Chichester District as a friend, who had a Private Hire Driver’s Licence had moved here and suggested that he should move here too.   With regard to the key attributes for a professional driver, he explained how he was polite and aimed to keep customers as happy as possible in his current job. With regard to dealing with difficult customers, he provided examples of his experiences dealing with difficult customers in a previous job and advised that he had kept calm and had not retaliated.   He explained his understanding of how Uber worked and advised that the background checks they carried out were similar to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 12.

 

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