Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Gordon Blair, Rory Colville, Lorna Douglas, Audrey Forrest, George Freeman, Donald MacMillan and Sandy Taylor.

There were no declarations of interest.

Report by Head of Legal and Regulatory Support

The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting.  In line with recent legislation for Civic Government Hearings, the parties (and any representatives) were given the options for participating in the meeting today.  The options available were by Video Call, by Audio Call or by written submission.  For this hearing the Applicant had opted to proceed by Video call but it was subsequently established that he had been unable to join in this way.  He agreed to proceed by way of Audio Call and joined the meeting by telephone.  The representative from Police Scotland had opted to proceed by Audio Call and also joined the meeting by telephone.

The Council’s Solicitor, Mr McMillan, advised that Police Scotland had requested the Committee take into consideration an Alternative to Prosecution which was considered “spent” in terms of the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974.

The Chair outlined the procedure that would be followed in this respect and invited Police Scotland to address the relevancy of the spent conviction.

Police Scotland

Sgt McGinnis advised that the “spent” Alternative to Prosecution related to a Recorded Police Warning given to the Applicant as the result of an incident which took place in May 2020.  She said the nature of the offence was relevant to someone holding a taxi driver licence and asked that it be taken into consideration.

Applicant

Mr Czerwinski said he did not think the “spent” Alternative to Prosecution” should be taken into account as he did not think it was relevant to his application.

Police Scotland

Sgt McGinnis asked that the details of the “spent” Alternative to Prosecution be heard.

At this point the Committee Manager advised that Councillor Mary-Jean Devon had lost connection to meeting briefly during the presentation given by Police Scotland and now just re-joined the meeting.

The Chair summarised for Councillor Devon, the presentations given by Sgt McGinnis and Mr Czerwinski.

The Committee agreed that the “spent” Alternative to Prosecution was relevant and agreed to take this into account.  A copy of the letter submitted by Police Scotland regarding this, which had previously been issued to the Applicant, was shared with the Committee on screen and read out by Mr McMillan.  The letter referred to the details of an incident which took place on 6 May 2020 and resulted in the Applicant receiving a Recorded Police Warning under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 Section 5(2).

The Chair then outlined the hearing procedure that would be followed and invited the Applicant to speak in support of his application.

APPLICANT

Mr Czerwinski explained the circumstances surrounding the incident which took place on 6 May 2020.  He advised that during lock down he was a key worker and drove every day from his home to Tarbert.  He advised that on this day he had been pulled over by the Police at Inveraray.  After a short conversation about why he was driving during lockdown, he explained that he had been shopping for elderly people in his village.  The Police asked his permission to search his car and he agreed to this.  The Police search found a box containing herbal cannabis.  Mr Czerwinski advised that the drugs were not his and that he had never used drugs.  He said the drugs belonged to a girlfriend. He said she used cannabis as she suffered from PTSD.  Mr Czerwinski said that he had previously been in the military and had the highest security clearance.  He said that he had advised the Police Officer that he wanted to defend himself but they advised that he would just receive a warning.  He said that he had explained to the Police about his application for a Taxi Driver Licence and they had advised that this would not affect his application and that it would be erased after 6 months. 

In terms of his application, Mr Czerwinski advised that the whole idea of providing a service to his village came up because there currently was no service in his village.  He said that previously there had been a full time taxi driver with a black cab but he gave his business up in the summer and the only service provided to the village came from Dunoon.  He said that this caused a problem in the village as the gentleman offering the service from Dunoon focussed mostly on long fares and was not as committed to providing a service for local trips.

Mr Czerwinski said he was a good driver, with 20 years’ experience and no convictions.  He advised that he needed to apply for a certificate of good conduct to apply for the licence.  He said he had provided this and that it proved he had never had any problem with the Police or the law.  He said the idea of Private Hire would be to provide a part time service as he did not think there was a need for a full time driver in the village.  He advised that it was a small community with the majority being elderly people.  He referred to the holiday park and said this was closed at the moment.  He advised that he would like to provide a service to the local community and to the tourists that visited the Drimsynie Holiday complex.  He said that in addition to this he would like to start a business next year focussing on fishing trips.  He said that he became unemployed during lock down.  He said that he had struggled to find another job and that his previous employment was in hospitality.  He said he did not want to rely on money from the Government.  He advised that he had some savings and that he had bought a car and bought a boat and applied for this licence.  He said he was ready to start a Private Hire business.

POLICE SCOTLAND

Sgt McGinnis referred to a letter dated 31 July 2020 which advised that the Applicant had been convicted at Court on 31 January 2020 under the 70, 60, 50 mph (Temp speed limit) Order 1977  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.