Agenda item

Mr John Carr

The Senior Licensing Officer introduced the report as circulated with the agenda. This was a review of Mr John James Carr’s Private Hire Driver’s Licence. She explained that Mr Carr was subject to a vehicle inspection on 4 July 2013 by Gloucestershire Constabulary. The vehicle had been stopped due to the officer witnessing the driver using his mobile phone whilst driving. On inspection of the private hire vehicle, the officer found that three tyres were worn below the legal limit and photographs of these were attached at Appendix A of the report. Mr Carr’s vehicle licence was immediately suspended but Mr Carr replaced his tyres on 5 July and following the inspection of the vehicle by Licensing Officers, the suspension notice was lifted. Members were being asked to ascertain whether they judged Mr Carr to be a fit and proper person to continue to hold a Private Hire driver’s licence.

Mr Carr was invited to address the committee. He explained that he was new to taxi driving. He had replaced his previous set of tyres with part-worn tyres as at the time he was saving up to fund his son’s trip to Kenya and therefore could not afford brand new tyres. He believed these part-worn tyres would tide him over until his MOT in July. He was however surprised that the tyres had deteriorated extremely quickly. He highlighted to the Licensing Committee that he had worked for GCHQ for 26 years and had held the position of team leader in that employment. He had brought up three children on his own following the death of his wife. This was his first mistake he had made in the 40 years he had been driving and he regretted this. He had not recognised that tyres would wear more quickly now that he was driving more than 1000 miles a week compared to under 100 miles week prior to taking up taxi driving. He had looked at the car a few days previous to the inspection but they did not appear to be in such a bad condition. He later revealed that this was not a close inspection since his car had been parked across the road from his house and he had only looked at them from this distance. He proposed to the Licensing Committee that he report to the police once or twice a week to ensure his current tyres were within the legal limits. Mr Carr added that he worked unsocial hours every night and in undesirable areas of the town.

When asked about his mobile phone offence he explained that he had not heard anything further. The Senior Licensing Officer explained that it did take time for the offence to be referred to the court and Mr Carr would receive a summons in due course and may receive penalty points on his DVLA licence.

Members questioned why Mr Carr, having known that his tyres were not perfect, and having received comments from other drivers in the business, had not acted and change the tyres. He reiterated the fact that he did not expect the part-worn tyres to deteriorate so quickly. Members were also concerned that Mr Carr had not noticed the extreme deterioration in the 3 tyres which would have been obvious even at a distance. Mr Carr replied that he was a new taxi driver and had not appreciated the rate of tyre wear. It was apparent to Members that it was likely that the part worn tyres were only just over the legal limit when purchased and asked whether Mr Carr had contacted the supplier. In response Mr Carr said he knew he had made a mistake and would not purchase from the same supplier again and as such had not made contact with them since the incident.

Further to receiving legal advice about Mr Carr’s proposal to get the police to check the condition of his tyres on a weekly basis, the Chair confirmed that this was not a feasible proposal and that it is the responsibility of the driver to check that their tyres were safe.

Members were advised that they had two options as set out in the report:-

1. that Mr Carr’s private hire driver’s licence be continued with no further action because the Committee was satisfied that Mr Carr was a fit and proper person to hold such a licence; or
2. that Mr Carr’s private hire driver’s licence be revoked as the Committee considered Mr Carr not to be a fit and proper person to hold a private hire driver’s licence because he failed to maintain his vehicle in a roadworthy condition

Members voted for these two options:

Option 1 : Voting for: 0, Against 7, Abstentions 0

Option 2: Voting for: 7, Against 0, Abstentions 0

The Committee also considered whether in accordance with section 61 (2A) of the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976 the decision to revoke should take immediate effect.

RESOLVED that Mr Carr’s private hire driver’s licence be revoked as the Committee considered Mr Carr no longer to be a fit and proper person to hold a private hire driver’s licence because, despite warnings from other drivers, he failed to maintain his vehicle in a roadworthy condition. In the interests of public safety the licence should also be revoked with immediate effect because of failure of Mr Carr to maintain his vehicle in a roadworthy condition and the potential implications of this on public safety.