THE DECISION:

That Councillor R A Baker be elected Chairman for the duration of the meeting.

(Councillor R A Baker in the Chair)

To consider passing a resolution under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 excluding the press and public from the meeting during consideration of item 4 on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph 1 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Act.

That under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the press and public were excluded from the meeting during consideration of the item of business at minute no LAHP.24 on the grounds that it involved the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph 1 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act as the Panel was satisfied that the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighed the public interest in disclosing the information.

Report of the Director of Law and Governance (Monitoring Officer)

The subject of the decision:

The Director of Law and Governance (Monitoring Officer) asked the Panel to consider whether the licence holder (“D”) was a fit and proper person to continue to hold a hackney carriage and private hire driver licence.

Alternative options considered:

The Panel considered the options in paragraph 6.1 of the officer’s report but, having concluded that D was not a fit and proper person to hold a hackney carriage and private hire driver licence, the only suitable option was to revoke D’s licence with immediate effect.

The Panel was not satisfied that any of the alternative options, including issuing a warning or a period of suspension, would adequately serve the interests of the public and address the safety concerns raised.

The reason for the decision:

The Panel considered:

·         the officer’s report;

·         the written and oral representations of D;

·         the written and oral representations of D’s employer (“E”);

·         the Council’s Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Licensing Policy; and

·         the relevant legislation.

The Panel was informed that on 26^th March 2018 D was arrested on suspicion of sexually assaulting a female.  D was subsequently released subject to three bail conditions, one of which prohibits D from having unsupervised contact with any child under the age of 16 years. 

The Panel noted that, at the time of the hearing, the allegation was still under police investigation and no charge had been made against D. 

The Panel noted that E, on D’s behalf, had informed the Council of the arrest and provided the Council’s Principal Licensing Officer with a copy of D’s notice of bail conditions.

D informed the Panel that he had been accused by his partner’s 14 year old granddaughter (“F”) of touching her between her legs during an incident which occurred between September and Christmas 2017.  D informed the Panel that he was first made aware of the accusation by the police in March 2018 and the accusation came “out of the blue”. 

D told the Panel that he had not been informed of a particular time or date of the alleged incident.  However, D did inform the Panel that, on one occasion, he and his partner had attended his partner’s daughter’s house.  According to D, at this time, he and his partner had a good relationship with his partner’s daughter and her children.  D stated that on that occasion he had been sat on the sofa between F and F’s 7 year old sibling.  D told the Panel that he had placed his right hand on F’s left knee to get up from the sofa when he left to use the bathroom.  D informed the Panel that the sofa was low and that he had used F’s knee as support. When D was asked if it was normal for him to touch F in that manner, D said “I wouldn’t do it all the time. I just sort of did it”.  D told the Panel his partner and his partner’s daughter were in the kitchen  ...  view the full minutes text for item LAHP.24