Agenda and draft minutes

Apologies were received from Russ Howell, with Catriona Miles attending in his place.

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The public are likely to be excluded during the following item of business in accordance with Section 100(A) of the Local Government Act 1972:-

Item 03

The public are likely to be excluded during the following item of business in accordance with Section 100(A) of the Local Government Act 1972:

Mr Amoakohene was accompanied to the meeting by Mr Anthony Schiller. The panel heard from Catriona Miles who presented a report from the Licensing Authority. The report was brought before the committee to consider road traffic convictions that the Authority had been made aware of during the life of the licence. It included details of road traffic convictions received by a licensed private hire driver which the licence holder had failed to notify the Authority, in accordance with the licence conditions. The Panel hear that Mr Amoakohene had received two fixed penalty notices (FPNs) for exceeding the statutory speed limit on a public road, resulting in the licence holder being endorsed with 3 points for each offence, cumulating 6 points in total.

Catriona advised the panel that taxi drivers are expected to act as professional drivers, and asked the committee to consider what action, if any, to take.

Mr Schiller advised of a few discrepancies in the report. One of these was that whilst Mr Amoakohene had moved employment, he had not actually moved private hire companies. Mr Schiller also advised that Mr Amoakohene had only needed to fill out forms for his licence once, when applying, wherein Mr Amoakohene had received help in completing these forms, and has since sought out assistance in completing forms relating to his licence.

The panel heard about Mr Amoakohene’s background, explaining that whilst he can speak English, there are still some technical aspects that he struggles with and requires assistance with. The panel also heard that Mr Amoakohene had completed over 150,000 miles in the application of his duty.

Mr Schiller advised the panel that as Mr Amoakohene is fully aware of his duties and responsibilities, though Mr Amoakohene had wrongly believed that he had to disclose these convictions to the Authority when he next filled out his licence forms, rather than at the time of the conviction. In addition, Mr Amoakohene had complied with all other conditions of his licence. It is the representation from Mr Amoakohene and Mr Schiller that on the balance of probability Mr Amoakohene has been an exemplary driver with this one mistake on his record.

The panel were advised from Mr Schiller that to suspend or revoke the licence would be a disproportionate response to this situation.

Mr Amoakohene was asked whether he had attended a speed awareness course. Mr Amoakohene advised he had attended a speed awareness course in 2017 for driving at 50mph in a 40mph zone but this was due to a temporary speed limit reduction for construction work. This, Mr Schiller advised, was 2 years before Mr Amoakohene became a taxi driver.

Mr Amoakohene was asked why, in the first offence, he decided to not reduce his speed to get away from the lorry which was allegedly throwing stones from the rear of the vehicle. Mr Schiller advised that it was legal to overtake a vehicle emitting stones from the rear, including exceeding the speed limit. He also advised that there was a  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.