Council and democracy

Agenda and minutes

Venue: Council Chamber, Civic Offices, New Road, Grays, Essex, RM17 6SL. View directions

Contact: Tisha Sutcliffe, Democratic Services Officer  Email: Direct.Democracy@thurrock.gov.uk

Items
No. Item

6.

Items of Urgent Business

To receive additional items that the Chair is of the opinion should be considered as a matter of urgency, in accordance with Section 100B (4) (b) of the Local Government Act 1972.

Minutes:

There were no items of urgent business

7.

Declarations of Interests

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest.

8.

New Application for Private Hire Driver Licence

Minutes:

At 7.11pm the Chair moved that due to the nature of the agenda item, members of the public and press be excluded from the meeting. This was carried unanimously.

 

The Chair asked the Licensing Officer, Paula Parrott to present the Factual Report. The Officer stated that the Applicant had previously held a licence in Thurrock however this had expired and was not renewed at the time; this was therefore being treated as a new application. The Officer stated that the DBS check had found no criminal record for the seventeen years in which the Applicant had resided in the United Kingdom, although the applicant had failed to declare on his form that he had previously lived in a foreign country. Applicants are required to provide a Certificate of Good Conduct from the country in which they resided, however it was noted that the British Home Office Website states there is no diplomatic channel through which such a certificate could be obtained from the Applicants country of origin. This therefore placed the Applicant outside the Council’s Statement of Policy and Guidelines.

 

The Chair thanked the Officer for the report and asked if the Applicant had any questions of the Licensing Officers. The Applicant indicated he had none.

 

The Chair asked Members if they had any questions for the Licencing Officers. The Members indicated that they had none. The Chair asked the Officers if the Home Office list which detailed all the countries which provided Certificates of Good Conduct had been provided to the Applicant. The Officer stated that a link to the Home Office Website was provided to applicants.

 

The Chair then invited the Applicant to present his case to the Committee. 

The Applicant stated that he had previously held a licence in Thurrock and had at no time been complained about, investigated or otherwise reprimanded by Thurrock as the Licensing Authority, or any of his passengers. The Applicant further stated that his DBS check confirmed he had not had any encounters with the Police, nor been in trouble during the seventeen years he has resided in the UK.

 

The Applicant went on to explain that despite the Home Office Guidance stating there was no means of obtaining a Certificate of Good Conduct from his country of origin, he had attended the Embassy in London to request such a document, or a document to state that they do not provide this service. The Embassy informed the Applicant that they did not provide this service to members of the public however would respond to any government request for criminal records check. They did suggest he attend the Kurdish Regional Embassy to see if they could help. The Applicant stated he attended the Kurdish Regional Embassy but was informed that they are not an Embassy in the proper sense of the word, rather an autonomous region of Iraq, and therefore were unable to provide this service. This concluded the Applicants representations.

 

The Chair asked if Officers had any questions of the Applicant. The  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.