Agenda item
Review of a Dual Drivers Licence
- Meeting of Miscellaneous Licensing Sub-Committee, Friday, 2nd July, 2021 10.00 am (Item 5.)
- View the reasons why item 5. is restricted
Purpose:
To review a Dual Driver’s licence held by an existing West Oxfordshire District Council licenced driver.
Recommendation:
That the Sub-Committee determines whether or not it deems the licence holder is a ‘fit and proper’ person to hold a Dual Driver’s Licence in the light of the information in this report.
Minutes:
The Sub-Committee received a report from the Group Manager of Residents’ Services which asked them to review a Dual Driver’s licence, held by an existing West Oxfordshire District Council licence holder.
Members were required to determine whether or not they deemed the individual to be a ‘fit and proper’ person to hold said licence, in light of the information contained in the report.
The Service Leader (Licensing and Business Support)?, Mrs Bignell, outlined the report which advised that the driver had been licenced with the authority since 2011. During that time, Officers had received one complaint about him in 2019 regarding his proficiency in English.
Mrs Bignell explained that all licensed drivers and new applicants had to complete Safeguarding and Disability Awareness Training every three years. This was also a requirement of the West Oxfordshire District Council Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Licensing Policy which formed part of the conditions of the driver licence.
The driver’s Safeguarding Training expired in 2020. However, the Council had decided to extend this to 31 March 2021 due to the Pandemic.
Due to the fact that the driver’s proficiency in English was poor, he had to be accompanied to his Safeguarding Training session in 2017. However, Oxfordshire County Council was not permitting this now due to Covid-19 restrictions meaning that the driver could not pass the examination and fulfil the mandatory requirement.
Mrs Bignell outlined the options available to the panel, as detailed at section 5 and signposted Members to the written submission from the driver, attached as Annex A to the report.
The driver, his representative and the Officers present were introduced.
The Chairman, Councillor MacRae clarified that none of the Members had any questions for the Officer and then proceeded to ask the driver a number of questions regarding his current working situation.
The driver’s representative explained that his client’s family had suffered a number of bereavements over the last 12 months, resulting in him travelling to, and staying in, Pakistan for four months. On his return he had continued to work as a taxi driver in West Oxfordshire. He advised that his client had undertaken Safeguarding Training previously but had been unable to do the refresher training because the County Council was not allowing interpreters or assistants to provide support, due to Covid restrictions.
Following a question from Councillor Fenton, Officers advised that it was not known when the County Council was likely to remove the restriction and they had not been advised that it would change on 19 July 2021 when other restrictions were potentially due to be lifted.
Councillor Saul addressed the driver in order to ascertain how he currently communicated with his passengers and heard the circumstances surrounding the previous complaint received in 2019. The driver’s representative also provided some background to the complaint which had occurred during the Charlbury Festival.
In response to a question from Councillor MacRae, the driver explained that he was not able to undertake the Safeguarding test because the County would not allow him to have an assistant present. However, he requested that an exception be made to enable him to continue working and provide for his and his brother’s family. His representative reiterated that he would complete the Safeguarding course as soon as he could and reminded the Panel that he had completed the training previously and was aware of the rules.
In summing up, the driver’s representative reiterated the request to allow his client to continue working and reminded them that no further complaints had been received in the past ten years.
The Sub-Committee then withdrew to determine the application and, having considered the report and the evidence given by the applicant, the Sub-Committee:-
Resolved that the hearing be adjourned for three months to enable the Safeguarding test to be completed. If the training was not completed by 1 October 2021, the licence would be suspended.
The Chairman reiterated to the driver that it was, therefore, in his best interests to make every effort to take the Safeguarding test as soon as possible.