The Council's Licensing Committee will use this procedure when
considering whether to grant, renew, suspend or revoke a hackney
carriage/private hire vehicle driver's or operator's licence and
hackney carriage or private hire vehicle licence.
It should be noted that:
i) the Committee may refuse to consider any documentation
not provided, or witnesses not identified, to the Council at least
14 days in advance of the hearing;
ii) the Council will endeavour to ensure that the
applicant/licence holder receives a copy of the licensing officer's
report outlining the facts of the case and other relevant
information at least ten working days prior to the hearing;
iii) the hearing is open to the public; the Committee may,
however, exclude the public if confidential or exempt information
is being disclosed;
iv) the Committee will comprise a minimum of three and
maximum of five elected Members. They will be assisted by a
Legal Officer and a Democratic Services Officer, neither of whom
have any decision making powers;;
v) the Committee will appoint a Chair from amongst their
number;
vi) only Members who have received appropriate training
will be eligible to serve on the Licensing Committee; and
vii) applicant and objectors may appoint representatives
to present their cases.
At the start of the hearing the Chair will:
a) introduce members of the Licensing
Committee;
b) clarify who is present and the nature of their
involvement; and
c) ensure that those present are familiar with the
procedure to be followed.
1.1 The procedure at the meeting will, in general, be
similar to that in a Court of Law. Although the strict rules
of evidence will not apply, they will be observed to a great extent
because this is the best way of hearing evidence from all
parties. Members may seek clarification of any procedural,
technical or legal matter from officers at any time during the
proceedings.
1.2 The procedure is as follows:
a) The Licensing Officer’s report will have been
circulated to members of the Licensing Committee in advance of the
meeting. It will outline important aspects of the
application/case; the officer(s) may give any relevant additional
background information. This report will be read to the
Committee where requested by the Chair. The officer(s) can
then be questioned by the applicant/licence holder or his/her
representative and by the Committee on matters relating to their
professional expertise and/or matters referred to in the
report.
b) Any Council Officer, complainant, etc. will then be
required to present their evidence; this should normally take no
longer than twenty minutes.
c) The Council Officer, complainant etc. may be questioned
by the applicant/licence holder or his/her representative.
They may then be questioned by the Licensing Committee.
d) The Chair will then invite the applicant/licence holder
or his/her representative to present their case and call evidence
and/or witnesses in support; this should normally take no longer
than 20 minutes.
e) The person(s) presenting the applicant/licence holder's
case and their witnesses may be questioned by the Licensing
Committee.
f) The applicant/licence holder or his/her representative
may ask further questions of their witnesses to clear up any points
raised in earlier questioning.
g) When the applicant/licence holder or his/her
representative has presented their case, the Chair will ask any
officer present if they wish to make any comments. Such
comments must be limited to commenting on matters raised by the
applicant/licence holder either in their opening statement or the
evidence called in support of the application. This should
not normally take more than five minutes. The
applicant/licence holder or his/her representative will then be
given the opportunity to ask the officers questions on the comments
made.
h) The applicant/licence holder or his/her representative
may then make a closing statement. This should not normally
take more that five minutes.
2.1 Each person giving evidence may be questioned by the
opposing party or parties and by the Licensing Committee. A
person may decline to be questioned, but less importance would then
be attached to his or her evidence.
2.2 When a person gives evidence:
a) They are first asked to give their full name and, where
required, their address.
b) They either make a verbal statement or, if appropriate,
are questioned by the person calling them.
c) They may be questioned by the other party or parties or
their representative.
d) Throughout the presentation of the respective cases,
questions may be put by the Licensing Committee. Such
questions will normally be put immediately following the questions
by the opposing party or parties.
e) Witnesses may then be questioned further (if
appropriate) by the person who called them. These questions
must be limited to matters that have already arisen in previous
questioning. This is solely an opportunity to ask questions
and not a time to make statements. No new matters may be
raised at this stage. The purpose of these questions is to
enable the advocate to clear up any misunderstandings which may
have arisen as a result of the previous questions only.
f) The Licensing Committee will not take into account
evidence which it considers to be irrelevant to the decision to be
reached. Similarly, it will not consider any representation
from persons not prepared to have their identity revealed.
2.3 The applicant/licence holder shall attend in
person. In certain circumstances the Committee may proceed in
the absence of the applicant/licence holder.
3.1 Documentary evidence upon which it is intended to rely
should be submitted to the Head of Environmental and Consumer
Services not less than fourteen working days before the date of the
hearing so that it may be included with the report to be submitted
to the Licensing Committee. If documents are not easy to
photocopy on an A4 machine (e.g. photographs) then normally ten
copies of each document must be supplied.
3.2 Where one of the parties wishes at the hearing to
submit a document or raise any matter not referred to in the papers
previously circulated, the following procedure will be
followed:
a) The party concerned should explain why the document
concerned was not submitted in advance.
b) If the Licensing Committee accepts the explanation it
shall be established whether the opposing party or parties (or
their representative) have already seen the document and whether
they have any objection to its submission.
c) In the case of papers not previously submitted, the
Chair will request that it first be passed to the other party or
parties (or to their representative) so that they can decide
whether they object to it being submitted to the Licensing
Committee and, if so, their grounds for objection.
Note: For this purpose it may be necessary to allow
time to study the document.
d) If there is an objection to the submission of this
evidence, each of the parties may give their reasons for or against
the proposed submission to the Licensing Committee.
Note: A party wishing to produce a video, model and so
forth should give notice in advance of the hearing to the Head of
Environmental and Consumer Services.
3.3 If there has been no objection to the submission of a
document, or if the Licensing Committee has ruled that it may be
submitted, the document will, if requested by the Chair, be read
aloud by the party submitting it or by his or her
representative. If the document is a letter or written
statement by someone who is not present and its submission has been
opposed by one of the parties, the Chair (if the Committee has
ruled that it should be admitted) will indicate that the weight
(importance) of evidence that the Licensing Committee will attach
to the document will take account of the fact that the signatory to
the letter or the maker of the statement is not present to be
questioned.
Note: At least ten copies should be provided of any
document that is to be submitted at the hearing.
3.4 An adjournment of the hearing may have to be permitted
in order to allow time to consider the new material and
respond. In consideration of the extra costs likely to
be incurred by all parties occasioned by an adjournment, any
application must demonstrate exceptional grounds before it is
granted.
4.1 At the end of a hearing the Chair will invite the
Licensing Committee to move into private session to enable the
Committee to deliberate in private. The Licensing Committee
will only reconvene to resolve any points of uncertainty on the
evidence already given. During their deliberation the
Committee will normally be accompanied by the Legal Officer and
Democratic Services Officer, but the decision shall be arrived at
by the Licensing Committee only. The Licensing Committee may
retire to a private room, or alternatively require vacation of the
meeting room by all other persons.
Notes:
i) Any officer retiring with the Licensing Committee must
be completely impartial and will not take any part in the
decision.
ii) The Licensing Committee has a general power to retire
during the proceedings and deliberate in private on any aspects or
issues of the case it is hearing.
iii) If the Licensing Committee requires clarification or
further information then all parties must be invited to return.
4.2 Notification of a Decision
When the Licensing Committee resumes, the Chair will normally
announce the decision and the reasons for the decision. This
decision will then be confirmed in writing by the Head of
Environmental and Consumer Services to the parties concerned
as soon as possible after the hearing.
5.1 In order to ensure that both applicant and Objectors
receive a fair hearing, the above may be waived, altered or
modified by the Licensing Committee.
a) The Committee will take due account of witnesses'
varying levels of knowledge of legal and technical matters
arising.
b) Persons addressing the Committee will not be expected
to stand or take the oath.
c) At convenient points in the proceedings and at no less
a frequency than every two hours, the Chair will adjourn the
meeting for a comfort break.
d) The Chair may also adjourn the meeting at the request
of the Legal Officer.
e) The minimum adjournment period for lunch will be thirty
minutes.
f) The Chair may permit robust questioning, but not permit
this to extend to bullying.
g) The home address of any complainant will not be
revealed without the consent of the complainant.
h) The applicant/licence holder or his/her representative
is not obliged to present a case and will not be prejudiced if such
a choice is made.
i) The Committee has a discretion to make a "site visit"
should it consider it necessary to the decision making
process.
j) The Committee will consider, if relevant, any previous
convictions of the applicant/licence holder
k) If any applicant, witness etc. has any special needs
regarding access, hearing or vision, this should be brought to the
Council's attention prior to the hearing in order that appropriate
provision may be made.
- Indroduction by chair
- Introduction/Update by Report Author
- Submission by Council Officer, Complainant etc.
- Applicant/Licence Holder's case
- Comments by Officers
- Closing statement by applicant/licence holder
- Committee retire to make decision
- Meeting reconvenes to hear decision and reasons
