Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Gordon Blair, Robin Currie, Audrey Forrest, George Freeman, Roderick McCuish and Jean Moffat.

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

APPLICANT

Mr Miller advised that he was here today to apply for a Taxi Operator Licence for himself as due to a knee injury sustained during his military service which had reoccurred, he wanted to apply for a licence for an automatic car.  He said that at the moment he was in partnership with Mr McMurtie and he wanted to change his car to an automatic.  He explained that he already worked 5 nights per week as a taxi driver so did not see that granting this licence would have an impact on the rank as he was already on the rank as a driver.  He commented that there were other people who had taxi plates but did not use them and that there were other people who had licences but did not work the rank.

MEMBERS’ QUESTIONS

Councillor Colville sought and received confirmation from Mr Miller that if he was granted this licence he would end his partnership with Mr McMurtie.

Councillor Kinniburgh sought and received confirmation from Mr Miller that the partnership ran one car.

Councillor Kinniburgh asked Mr Miller if he needed to drive an automatic car because of his injury.  Mr Miller advised that it would be for his wellbeing and for his passengers.  He said that it would be helpful to himself to be pain free.  When asked, he confirmed that he did not have any written evidence from his GP.

Councillor Colville asked what the legal position would be regarding the current Operator Licence held by Mr Miller and Mr McMurtie.  He asked if this licence held by the partnership would cease if Mr Miller was granted a new licence.  Mr McMillan explained that the Council would need to be notified if the partnership was ended.  He advised that Mr McMurtie could legitimately continue but if someone else was added to the partnership there would need to be stringent checks carried out to reduce the risk of transfer of a plate.  Mr Miller confirmed that he would cease the partnership as soon as he could.

Councillor Kinniburgh sought and received confirmation from Mr Miller that the current car held by the partnership was registered this year.  Mr Miller confirmed that Mr McMurtie did not want to change this car to an automatic and that he did not want to drive an automatic car.  Mr Miller advised that the current car was jointly owned.

Councillor Kinniburgh sought and received confirmation from Mr Miller that he would be ending the partnership at a financial loss to himself.

Councillor Trail asked Mr Miller if his injury was as a result of military service.  Mr Miller explained that he had inflammation in his knee and that he had been seeing his GP for 4 months now.  He advised that he could not drive full time at the moment.  He said that he started working for the Council 2 years ago driving school mini buses as well as the taxi.  He advised that as a result of losing a lot of weight this had aggravated a previous knee injury.

Councillor Trail sought and received confirmation from Mr Miller that he was unable to drive school mini buses at the moment because of the pain he was in.

Councillor Kinniburgh commented that he would have thought losing weight would have taken pressure off Mr Miller’s knee.  Mr Miller explained that the inflammation was caused by the rubbing of a bone on his knee cap and that his GP had only been able to prescribe anti-inflammatory medication.  He advised that he experienced a shooting pain when he pressed his foot on the clutch.  He said that he has been told that his pain was not bad enough to receive a knee operation.

Councillor Colville sought and received confirmation from Mr Miller that he would only be driving at night.

Councillor Redman sought and received confirmation from Mr Miller that if the licence was not granted this would cause his family financial difficulty as he would not be able to work.

Councillor Kinniburgh sought and received confirmation from Mr Miller that it was only his knee that was causing the problem.

Councillor Kinniburgh asked how losing weight had created the problem.  Mr Miller explained that he had attended Feel Good Fitness in Oban to lose weight and that during one of the training sessions something happened to his knee.  He said that he had not experienced pain up until then.  He said that whatever happened had resulted in the reoccurrence of his knee pain.  He advised that he had lost 8kg of weight and that he could hardly walk the dog.  He said again that his GP would only prescribe him anti-inflammatory medication and that he was in constant pain.

Councillor Kinniburgh referred to the LVSA survey report which concluded that there was no unmet demand for taxis in the Oban, Lorn and the Isles area.  He asked Mr Miller if it was the exercise rather than the loss of weight which had caused the pain.  Mr Miller advised that just over 3 years ago he wanted to lose weight.  During the weight loss he injured his knee which resulted in the reoccurrence of an old injury he received during his military service.  He advised that back then he would be walking and his knee would suddenly lock, causing him to fall over.  He said that he received sonic treatment on his knee at that time and that for a long time he had been pain free until this reoccurrence.    He said that when the injury had first occurred he had been told that there was a bit of bone floating around which had worn away part of the tissues.  He advised that the treatment he received had cleared it up.

Councillor Colville referred to Mr Miller’s reason for applying for  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.