Agenda item

With reference to article 14 of the minute of its meeting of 12 September 2017, the Committee had before it a report by the Head of Legal and Democratic Services which requested that the Licensing Committee consider the views of the holders of Booking Office licences and the Chief Constable, who had been invited to attend today’s meeting and be heard, on the variation of the standard local conditions in relation to Booking Office Licences.

The report recommended –

that the Committee

(a)       note that all holders of Booking Office Licences and the Chief Constable, Police Scotland, had, in accordance with Paragraph 10 of Schedule 1 of the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982, been notified of the proposed variation of conditions, as agreed by the Committee at their meeting on 12 September 2017 and noted below, and had been invited to attend and be heard at this meeting of the Committee:-

The proposed variation of the local condition 3 from “the licence holder shall keep written or electronic records of the name address, licence number of every driver operating from the relevant premises” to read;

“The Licence Holder, in order to ensure that relevant vehicles are only driven by a licensed taxi or private hire drivers, shall keep, and undertake an ongoing review or audit of, written or electronic records of the name, address, licence number and expiry date of every driver operating from the relevant premises.”

The proposed variation of the local condition 4 from “the Licence Holder shall ensure that only relevant vehicles licences by the Licensing Authority operate from the relevant premises” to read;

“The Licence Holder, in order to  ensure that only relevant vehicles, currently licensed by this local authority, operate from the relevant premises, shall keep, and undertake an ongoing review or audit of, written or electronic records of the licence holder, licence number, registration number and expiry date of any taxi and private hire car operating from the relevant premises”;

(b)       consider the views of the holders of Booking Office licences and the Chief Constable, Police Scotland on the proposed variation of the local conditions above (Appendix 1);

(c)       thereafter, approve the proposed amended draft schedule of conditions (Appendix 1); and

(d)       instruct the Head of Legal and Democratic Services to give written notice of the Committee’s decision to the holders of Booking Office Licences and The Chief Constable, Police Scotland, on the variation of the local conditions in accordance with paragraph 10 of Schedule 1 of the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982.

The Committee heard representation from Mr Russell McLeod, Rainbow City Taxis, regarding the proposed variation of local conditions 3 and 4.

The Committee resolved:

(i)         to approve the recommendations; and

(ii)        to agree that a meeting of the Taxi and Private Hire Consultation Group be held to discuss the process for the renewal and notification of a taxi/private hire driver licence and that a representative from all booking offices be invited to attend that meeting only.