| MEETING OF THE LICENSING BOARD | ||||
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| held 13th June 2006 | ||||
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| PRESENT: | Councillors Janet Bragg (Chair), David Barker, Kathleen Chadwick, Jonathan Harston, Alan Law, Diane Leek, Alf Meade, Liz Naylor, John Robson, Clive Skelton and Mike Waters. | |||
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| 1. | APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE | |||
| | There were no apologies for absence received from Members of the Board. | |||
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| 2. | MINUTES | |||
| | The minutes of the meetings of the Board held on 9th, 11th, 15th, 16th, 17th and 25th May, 2006, and 1st June, 2006, were approved as correct records. | |||
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| 3. | PRIVATE HIRE AND HACKNEY CARRIAGE LICENSING - ILLEGAL PLYING FOR HIRE | |||
| | The Board considered a report of the Assistant Chief Executive, Legal and Governance concerning the Council's practice relating to drivers of hackney carriage or private hire vehicles suspected of illegally plying for hire. | |||
| | The report outlined the reasons why illegal plying for hire was considered a serious offence including that vehicles and drivers holding no licence would not have undergone procedural tests or checks and might intend serious criminal activity; insurance implications; that there was no legal contract, depriving the passenger of legal rights afforded to them by a contract so that they had no control over the fare charged or, should a problem arise during the course of the journey there was no recourse to a complaint to the Police or the Council's Licensing Section. | |||
| | The report also identified that most illegal plying for hire occurred at night time, when it was difficult for passengers to provide useful descriptions of either the vehicle or the driver involved. A particular problem in Sheffield had been the number of North East Derbyshire and Rotherham licensed private hire vehicle drivers illegally plying for hire. | |||
| | The affect on legitimate services and drivers were also outlined. | |||
| | There had been a number of publicity campaigns to inform the public about safe travel home using taxis and private hire vehicles and the dangers of using unlicensed vehicles although these had been thought to have had little impact except for short periods following a serious reported incident involving a passenger in a vehicle illegally plying for hire. | |||
| | The report recommended that, due to the potentially serious consequences of the offence of plying for hire, offenders would be prosecuted and that the Council should endeavour to recover the costs of prosecutions from those convicted and that, other than in exceptional circumstances, offenders should expect to have any licences they hold revoked or any application for a licence refused. | |||
| | Trades Associations were consulted in relation to the measures proposed and a letter outlining the response of the Sheffield Confederation of Private Hire Companies was appended to the report. Representatives of Trades Associations also attended the meeting (Mr. Mohammed Yasin, Private Hire and Hackney Carriage Drivers' Association, Mr. Chris Frayne, Confederation of Private Hire Companies, Mr. Hafeas Rehman and Mr. M. Nizar (both representing the Sheffield Taxi Trade Association)). | |||
| | The following issues were also considered by Members of the Board:- | |||
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| | · The detail of identification on licensed vehicles and the extent to which vehicles in Sheffield could be distinguished from vehicles licensed by neighbouring local authorities. | |||
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| | · The potential of changing to a one tier licence which did not distinguish between hackney carriage and private hire vehicles and drivers. | |||
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| | · The effect of drivers licensed in North East Derbyshire and concern that drivers who sought licences in North East Derbyshire did not, in practice operate in North East Derbyshire but in Sheffield. | |||
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| | · The level of co-operation and information sharing between neighbouring Licensing Authorities particularly in relation to North East Derbyshire. | |||
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| | · Partnership and training with the Magistrates in relation to the licensing of vehicles and drivers. | |||
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| | · Work undertaken with South Yorkshire Police, particularly in respect of plying for hire and the Council's Licensing Officers involvement with Police training. | |||
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| | · The development of a promotional campaign in relation to the dangers of using an unlicensed vehicle or travelling in a taxi which was plying for hire. | |||
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| | Representatives of the Taxi Trade Associations contributed to the discussion, particularly in relation to the extent to which unlicensed drivers were pursued by the Council in the interests of protecting the public, joint work undertaken with the Licensing Board and Officers at North East Derbyshire and that any working vehicle which was licensed should carry appropriate signage on appropriate parts of the vehicle. | |||
| | RESOLVED: That (i) because of the potentially serious consequences of the offence, offenders will be prosecuted (where there is considered to be sufficient evidence to secure a conviction and it is in the public interest to do so); | |||
| | (ii) Officers must endeavour to recover the costs of prosecutions from those convicted in order to reduce the financial burden on licensed drivers who work within the law; | |||
| | (iii) unless there are exceptional circumstances, offenders should expect to have any licences they hold revoked and/or any application for a licence refused; | |||
| | (iv) a copy of the report and resulting resolution should be made available to the Courts when relevant cases are being considered; | |||
| | (v) to request that the Assistant Chief Executive, Legal and Governance, investigate the development of a promotional campaign to increase awareness by the public of the risks of using a private hire vehicle which was plying for hire; | |||
| | (vi) in conjunction with South Yorkshire Police, that the Licensing Authority continue with whatever action was deemed necessary to eradicate plying for hire; | |||
| | (vii) that this Board requests Members of Parliament to strengthen the legislation relating to plying for hire because of the potential risks to members of the public; and | |||
| | (viii) to request that the Chair of the Board in conjunction with the Leader of the Council writes to North East Derbyshire Council expressing the Board's concerns in relation to licensed private hire vehicle drivers from North East Derbyshire illegally plying for hire. | |||
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| 4. | BASIC SKILLS ASSESSMENT FOR POTENTIAL DRIVERS | |||
| | The Board considered a report of the Assistant Chief Executive, Legal and Governance in relation to progress made concerning the introduction of basic skills assessment for potential private hire and taxi drivers. | |||
| | At its meeting on 20th September, 2005, the Board, passed a resolution in support of the introduction of a basic skills assessment and requested the Assistant Chief Executive, Legal and Governance to make arrangements necessary to implement the scheme. | |||
| | An assessment tool devised by GoSkills was being employed, which was a National Standard Assessment available throughout the transport industry. The assessment tool had two elements, namely English and arithmetic and discussions involving Officers from the Council, GoSkills and the identified provider, Castle College, would take place to finalise arrangements for the introduction of the scheme. The report outlined features of the scheme, including that the assessment was free and that second and subsequent assessments would be made and those not achieving the required level could be supported by college staff, prior to reassessment. | |||
| | The Board could refer existing drivers for the assessment, if the reason for which they had been referred indicated that there were grounds for believing that the driver did not understand English to an appropriate level. | |||
| | An introductory event for the launch of the scheme would take place on Wednesday, 21st June, 2006, at the Pakistan Muslim Centre and Members were invited to attend the event. | |||
| | A discussion was held in relation to the possible translation of the letter of invitation to drivers into minority languages, supporting the wide promotion of the event. | |||
| | Mr Mohammed Yasin expressed the view that as many drivers as possible should know about the event on 21st June and that such an occasion would improve communication and ease any concerns in relation to the basic skills assessment. The Licensing Solicitor, John Derricott, emphasised that the assessments would be aimed at new applicants for hackney carriage and private hire drivers' licences. There was however an option for the Licensing Board to require such assessments where individuals had been referred to the Board because of their inability to understand the English language. | |||
| | Appended to the report previously circulated to Members was a letter in support of the proposed introduction of basic skills assessments from the Secretary of the Sheffield Federation of Private Hire Companies. | |||
| | RESOLVED: To note the report. | |||
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| | (NOTE: The Board adjourned and, upon reconvening, the following Members were present:- Councillors Janet Bragg (Chair), Liz Naylor and John Robson.) | |||
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| 5. | EXCLUSION OF THE PUBLIC AND PRESS | |||
| | RESOLVED: That the public and press be excluded from the meeting before discussion takes place on the following item of business to be considered on the grounds that, if the public and press were present during the transaction of such business, there would be a disclosure to them of exempt information as described in paragraphs 1 and 2 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972, as amended. | |||
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| 6. | PRIVATE HIRE AND HACKNEY CARRIAGE LICENSING - INDIVIDUAL CASE | |||
| | The Assistant Chief Executive, Legal and Governance, submitted details in respect of a case relating to a Hackney Carriage/ Private Hire Licence. The applicant in respect of Case No. 37/06 attended the meeting accompanied by his legal representative. | |||
| | RESOLVED: That the case now submitted be determined as follows:- | |||
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| | Case No. | Licence Type | Decision | |
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| | 37/06 | Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Drivers Licence | To refuse the application on the grounds of the issues now reported and the applicant's responses to questions of Members of the Board. | |