The Head of Legal and Regulatory Services submitted a report asking the sub-committee to consider an application to grant a licence for a hackney carriage vehicle.

The application was made by Lee Grabham of Pyle to licence a Seat Toledo Ecomotive saloon registration number YH64 FPE as a hackney carriage vehicle to seat 4 persons. The application was accepted on 9 January 2020. The current mileage of the vehicle was 129,275. The vehicle was first registered at the DVLA on 7 October 2014. 

The Team Manager Licensing advised that the vehicle was licensed as hackney carriage HC255 and the licence was due to expire on 10 October 2020. Mr Grabham had supplied a bill of sale to himself dated 6 December 2019 which was attached to the papers. Mr Grabham had provided written authorisation for certain documents to be disclosed as part of his application.

The Team Manager Licensing explained that in terms of the hackney carriage licence, the proprietor notified the Council of the surrender of the licence on 13 December 2019. The licence therefore ceased to have effect on that date and this application was therefore for the grant of a hackney carriage vehicle licence. She added that the application fell outside the Hackney Carriage Vehicle Policy approved by the Licensing Committee and the vehicle was not wheelchair accessible. The last vehicle test was undertaken by Fleet Services on 11 October 2019 with the mileage recorded at 126,794. There were advisory comments for attention in relation to a tyre and small oil leak but the vehicle passed the test. The applicant had stated that at the time of the sale the vehicle was in a poor state of cleanliness and disrepair and had submitted photographs stated to have been taken at the time of purchase. He also submitted work undertaken on the vehicle included in appendix B to the report. Mr Grabham asked the Sub-Committee to consider the circumstances of the purchase, the improvement made to the condition of the vehicle and asked for the Sub-Committee to consider a relaxation of the age policy under exceptional circumstances.

K Spencer provided background information to the Sub-Committee. She worked with Mr Grabham, the applicant, and was aware of the process. Mr Grabham was under the impression that both this vehicle and the previous vehicle, YB63 APY were licensed. They would never have paid that amount of money for the vehicles if they were not hackney carriages. When the vehicles were collected, they had no spare tyre, first aid kits or fire extinguishers. They took the vehicles to Rely on Tyres to have repair work carried out. When the vehicles were there, the plates were removed and surrendered as taxis. He spent more than £6,000 improving both vehicles and with the initial cost of the vehicles, he had invested £13,000 in both cars. He was familiar with the policy and asked if it could be relaxed due to the exceptional circumstances.    

K spencer added that the company had weekly inspections and was growing quickly. They had purchased the vehicles to increase the fleet and to serve deprived areas of the community.

RESOLVED:                The Sub-Committee considered the application to licence vehicle registration YH64 FPE as a hackney carriage vehicle. 

                                     Members noted that the application fell outside the Licensing Policy at paragraph 2.1 due to the vehicles age.

                                     Members further noted that the Policy at paragraph 2.2 allowed it to be relaxed in exceptional circumstances as detailed in paragraph 2.4 of the policy.

                                     Having examined the vehicle and considered the information provided, the Sub-Committee felt there were exceptional circumstances and therefore granted the licence.