Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Gordon Blair, Mary-Jean Devon, George Freeman, Graham Archibald Hardie and Sandy Taylor.

There were no declarations of interest.  Dr Black raised a point of order which the Chair responded to.

Report by Head of Governance and Law

The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting and introductions were made.  He then outlined the procedure that would be followed and invited the Applicant to speak in support of his application.

 

APPLICANT

 

Mr Berry advised that he was aware of Dr Black’s attempt to take the Council to court for granting a Private Hire Licence to Mr Haddow.  He stated that he believed this was a deliberate attempt by Dr Black to influence the Committee in respect of his application and he asked that Dr Black’s objection be thrown out.

 

QUESTIONS FROM OBJECTOR

 

Dr Black commented that he had noted that Mr Berry had been cited and was present at the court yesterday unlike other people.  He asked Mr Berry why he thought this was an attempt to influence the Committee today.  Mr Berry advised that he did not receive a citation to appear at the court but attended as he wished to do so.

 

OBJECTOR

 

Dr Black advised that he had been here many times before.  He stated that the Committee had no idea what they were doing and that there were similar problems in Helensburgh, Oban and Islay.  He said the Committee had no idea how many taxis were needed and how many there currently were.  He stated that they were all incompetent and should resign.

 

MEMBERS’ QUESTIONS

 

Councillor Kinniburgh sought and received confirmation from Mr Berry that he was applying for a Private Hire Operator Licence.  He asked Mr Berry to clarify how he would operate this licence.  Mr Berry advised that a Private Hire vehicle was in one sense not classed as a taxi as it could only take bookings from an office or phone and that it could not pick up passengers or sit on the taxi rank.  He confirmed that he would take hires off the system.

 

Councillor Kinniburgh asked if taking hires from the system was the main part of Mr Berry’s business or did he have cars that sat on the rank a lot of the time.  Mr Berry replied that the main part of any business of this type was taking hires through the system.  He said there were more hires from the system than from the rank and that he had facts and figures to prove that.

 

Councillor Kinniburgh sought and received clarification from Mr Berry that the business did have cars that sat on the rank but they would leave there if a hire came through on the system.

 

Councillor Colville sought and received confirmation from Mr Berry that he would only be operating in the Helensburgh area.

 

Councillor Colville asked Mr Berry if he phoned up to request a taxi to pick him up in Helensburgh would it be a taxi or private hire vehicle that would be sent.  Mr Berry said that it could be either.

 

Councillor Currie sought and received confirmation from Mr Berry that private hires could only be taken over the phone and they could not stop in the street.

 

Councillor Currie also sought and received confirmation from Mr Berry that he currently held a Taxi Driver’s Licence with Argyll and Bute Council and a Taxi Operator’s Licence with Argyll and Bute Council and that this application was for an additional car for Private Hire.

 

Councillor Moffat referred to Mr Berry having a Taxi Driver’s Licence and that he now wanted a Private Hire Licence.  She also referred to Mr Berry advising that most of the taxi drivers took their business from a central number and that it was only occasionally that a hire was taken from the rank.  She commented that with his Taxi Driver’s Licence Mr Berry could already sit on the rank and take calls, she asked him why he needed to have a Private Hire Licence.  Mr Berry advised that there were currently 48 taxis operating in Helensburgh.  He stated that a lot of the drivers were of pension age and now only worked a few days.  He said there were not enough taxis in the area and the only way he could get more cars was to get Private Hire vehicles.  He advised that the demand was there and that they needed more cars to cover the work.  He advised that people were phoning up for taxis and were sometimes having to wait up to 30 minutes. 

 

Councillor Moffat sought and received confirmation from Mr Berry that he was not seeking a Private Hire Licence for himself personally to use and that it was for his firm.

 

Councillor Kinniburgh sought and received confirmation from Mr Berry that the Private Hire vehicles were working in the same way as taxis apart from sitting on the rank and picking up hires from the street.  Mr Berry advised that this happened in most areas.

 

SUMMING UP

 

Objector

 

Dr Black said that the Committee were slowly getting the hang of the situation and were beginning to understand about taxis.  He referred to taking a bus from Glasgow city to the Airport and he had spoken with a gentleman who had taxi plates on Islay.  He stated that Councillor Redman had cut this gentleman’s earnings by issuing plates on Islay.  He said the same thing was happening in Oban and in Helensburgh.  He stated that issuing more plates lowered the wages of other drivers.  He referred to Councillor Colville asking if the private hire vehicle could go to Campbeltown.  Dr Black advised that this car could operate anywhere in Argyll and Bute and could operate anywhere in Scotland and probably England too.  Dr Black then stated he wished to withdraw his objection. 

 

Mr Reppke advised that if that was Dr Black’s position the Committee would take account of that.  Dr Black advised that in view of the statement made by Mr Berry that the existing drivers were old and not doing their jobs properly he said that they should be sacked and that he would withdraw his objection and now support this application.

 

Applicant

 

Mr Berry advised that he had nothing further to add.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.