Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were intimated from Councillors Mary-Jean Devon, Alistair MacDougall and James McQueen.

There were no declarations of interest.

The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting and introductions were made.

 

The Council’s Solicitor explained that the Applicant had been in touch with the Licensing Section to advise that he was unable to travel to the hearing today.  He was invited to submit a written representation and a copy of this was available to the Committee if they were agreeable to taking this into consideration.

 

The Committee agreed to take the written representation from the Applicant into consideration and this was circulated to everyone in attendance and read out by the Head of Governance and Law.

 

The Chair then advised of the procedure that would follow in the absence of the Applicant and invited Police Scotland to speak in support of their representation.

 

Police Scotland

 

Sergeant Quinn advised that the Chief Constable was not objecting to the application but had submitted a representation in respect of criminal convictions the Applicant had failed to disclose in this application form.  He confirmed that the Applicant had been advised in a letter of his failure to disclose the convictions.  Sergeant Quinn then read out the nature of these convictions and advised that it was for the Committee to consider whether or not they felt that the Applicant was a fit and proper person to be the holder of a Taxi Driver Licence.

 

Members’ Questions

 

Councillor Kinniburgh referred to the Applicant’s written representation which declared that he had no criminal convictions and asked if the Police were certain that the convictions related to the Applicant.  Sergeant Quinn confirmed that they did and that Mr Johnstone had been advised in a letter from the Police that he had failed to disclose his criminal convictions and that a copy of this letter was also sent to the Council’s Licensing Team and was enclosed with the paperwork before Members today.

 

Councillor Currie referred to the passage of time since the convictions were made.

 

Councillor Freeman referred to the Applicant’s statement in his representation that he had no criminal convictions despite being advised by Police Scotland that he had convictions.  He advised that it appeared to him that the Applicant was deliberately attempting to avoid declaring his convictions and asked the Police if they would agree.  Sergeant Quinn confirmed that the Applicant had been made aware of his convictions.

 

Sergeant Quinn confirmed he did not wish to sum up and that he had received a fair hearing.

 

Debate

 

Councillor Freeman advised that he had concerns as the Applicant had failed to disclose his criminal convictions.  He stated that he considered this to be a serious matter as in his opinion the Applicant appeared to be deliberately misleading Members by stating in his written representation that he had no convictions.  For this reason, he advised that he did not believe the Applicant to be a fit and proper person to hold a Taxi Driver Licence.

 

Councillor McNaughton disagreed and stated that he thought the licence should be granted.

 

Councillor Taylor advised that non disclosure of convictions happened all the time and that he was happy to support Councillor McNaughton.

 

Councillor Blair sought and received clarification from Ms Connelly that the Applicant had been contacted by telephone and invited to send in a written representation.

 

Mr Reppke advised that as regulators there was only so much assistance that the Council could offer when filling out an application form.

 

Councillor Kinniburgh advised that he had difficulty with this one and that he shared the same concerns raised by Councillor Freeman.  He stated that the application form made it quite clear that for the purposes of taxi driver licences all previous convictions were considered “live” and unable ever to be regarded as “spent” and that they should be declared on the form and that if an Applicant was any doubt they should seek legal advice.  He referred to the letter dated 2 December 2014 sent by Police Scotland to Mr Johnstone advising of his convictions and he referred to the letter submitted by Mr Johnstone dated 20 January 2015 declaring he had no convictions.  Councillor Kinniburgh stated that he had no difficulty with the conviction from 2007 which was admonished but that he did have difficulty with the Applicant declaring that he had no convictions even after these had been pointed out to him.

 

Mr Reppke pointed out that the written letter did not appear to have been written by the same person who signed it and it may have been the case that the letter writer was not aware of the previous correspondence from the Police.

 

Councillor Currie advised that he took the opposite view from the Chair.  He advised that in the past he always believed admonishment meant no record and it was only through his experience of being on this Committee that he now knew this not to be the case.  He stated that he had no issue with the application.

 

Councillor Taylor agreed that the letter did not appear to have been written by the same person who signed it.

 

Councillor Robert MacIntyre asked if it would be possible to defer this hearing to another day to give the Applicant the opportunity to attend.  Mr Reppke advised that the Committee could defer if they wished but it may be the case that the Applicant was unable to travel to the meeting at any time.

 

Councillor Colville referred to the Applicant stating that he has been asked to take over his friend’s taxi business and asked if this meant he would be applying for a Taxi Operator licence at a later date.  Mr Reppke advised that he thought this statement by the Applicant was his way of advising that he would be driving the taxi full time on behalf of the taxi operator.

 

Councillor Colville advised that non disclosure of convictions was a common occurrence and that he believed the layout of the application form needed to be revisited.  He stated that he was happy for the licence to be granted.

 

Councillor Kinniburgh declared that the form could not  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.