Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Rory Colville, Mary-Jean Devon, George Freeman, Graham Archibald Hardie and Roderick McCuish.

There were no declarations of interest.

Report by Head of Legal and Regulatory Support

The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting and introductions were made.  He outlined the procedure that would be followed and before inviting Police Scotland to speak in support of the Chief Constable’s complaint, the Committee agreed to the circulation of a letter from the Licence Holder’s lawyers who represented him in Court.

POLICE SCOTLAND

Sergeant MacNicol referred to a request from the Chief Constable that, in terms of Paragraph 11(1) of Schedule 1 of the Act, the Licensing Committee suspend Mr Gallacher’s Licence.  He advised that the Chief Constable complained, in terms of Paragraph 11(2)(a) of Schedule 1 of the Act that Mr Gallacher was no longer a fit and proper person to hold the licence.  He confirmed that the Chief Constable was also asking the Committee to order the immediate suspension of Mr Gallacher’s Licence, in terms of Paragraph 12(1) of Schedule 1 of the Act, on the grounds that the carrying on of the activity to which his licence relates would likely cause a serious threat to public order or public safety.  In support of the Chief Constable’s request Sergeant MacNicol read out the details of an incident which occurred on 31 October 2018.  He confirmed that as a result of this incident Mr Gallacher was charged with Section 3 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 and a report was sent to the Procurator Fiscal.  He confirmed that Mr Gallacher pled guilty at Court on 19 June 2019 and that he was fined £135 and had his licence endorsed with 3 penalty points.

LICENCE HOLDER

Mrs MacLeod spoke on behalf of Mr Gallacher.  She advised that he was 69 years old and had been married almost 50 years and had 2 daughters and 5 grandchildren.  She advised that he was a retired postman and that he had also been driving taxis since the mid-1970s.  She referred to the day in question when the incident happened and explained that Mr Gallacher had stopped on Hillfoot Street, Dunoon to allow a passenger to call into her work premises to get money to pay for her fare.  She explained that the street was very busy at the time with traffic, pedestrians and children going to school.  She advised that while Mr Gallacher was negotiating to a car parking space he failed to notice the lollipop man who had stepped off the pavement onto the road.  She referred to the letter circulated to the Committee and pointed out that a video of CCTV footage was watched by the Court and that it had been decided by the Court that what had happened was at the lower end of the scale of careless driving.  She said that Mr Gallacher had made an unfortunate mistake which he had admitted to.  She advised that he had provided a valuable driving service to Dunoon since the mid-1970s and that he had an unblemished record. She said that he had worked very hard for his family and his country and she suggested that to suspend his Taxi Driver Licence would be a step too far.  She stated that the Court decided that this was at the lower end of the scale of careless driving and that he had been imposed with a small fine and only 3 penalty points.  She said that his punishment at Court was enough, given his long and unblemished record and she asked the Committee not to suspend Mr Gallacher’s licence. 

MEMBERS’ QUESTIONS

Councillor Kinniburgh sought and received confirmation from Mr Gallacher that he was not speeding at the time of the incident.  He said he was crawling to a parking space.  Mr Gallacher also confirmed that later in the day, when he was on the taxi rank, the lollipop patrol man approached him and that it was only at that point he was made aware that he had not stopped for the patrol man.  Mr Gallacher explained that he apologised and that the patrol man had said that he could see that Mr Gallacher was distracted at the time.  Mr Gallacher said that this was the first time he had made a mistake in his life.  He confirmed that he had not been aware of the patrol man at the time as he was busy watching for children, cars and  vans at that time in the morning.  He also advised that he was normally super cautious on that street even when the schools were off as it was such a busy street.

Councillor Kinniburgh asked Sgt MacNicol to confirm when Police Scotland first became involved in this matter.  Sgt MacNicol advised that the school crossing patrol man had reported the incident to the Police.  He confirmed that he had seen the CCTV footage and though it was not the crime of the century, the lollipop man was on the road and people had just come off the road onto the pavement.  He said that the taxi had kept crawling along and had disobeyed the sign to stop held by the school crossing patroller. 

Councillor Kinniburgh sought and received confirmation from Sgt MacNicol that the patrol man had come on to the street on the other side of the road from the taxi and that he had returned to the pavement on that same side, opposite to where the vehicle was.

Councillor Kinniburgh asked for Mr Gallacher’s version of events.  Mrs MacLeod explained that it was a busy time of the morning with school children, vans and cars.  She said that Mr Gallacher had been distracted by his passenger not having her fare that that he had been distracted looking for a parking space and it was at this point when he was looking for a space that he did not see the patrol man step off the road.  She confirmed that Mr Gallacher was dropping his passenger off at her place of work.

Councillor Kinniburgh asked if Mr Gallacher was crawling to let the road clear.  Mrs MacLeod advised that he was crawling trying to get to a parking place and that  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.