Agendas, reports and minutes

 

Minute of the special meeting of the Highland Licensing Committee held in Committee Room 1, Council Headquarters, Glenurquhart Road, Inverness on Thursday 25 September 2014 at 10.30 am.

Present:

Dr I Cockburn , Mr A Duffy, Mrs G Sinclair, Ms M Smith, Mr H Wood,  

In Attendance:

Ms S Blease, Principal Solicitor (Regulatory Services)
Mr M Elsey, Senior Licensing Officer
Mrs A MacArthur, Administrative Assistant

Also Attending:

Detective Inspector A Ingram, Police Scotland
Sergeant S Campbell, Police Scotland

Ms M Smith in the Chair

The Chair confirmed that the meeting would not be webcast. 

Business

1.  Apologies for Absence 
Leisgeulan

Apologies for absence were intimated on behalf of Mr C Fraser, Mr R Greene, Mr A Henderson, Mr W Mackay, Mr J Rosie and Mr J Stone.

2.  Declarations of Interest
Foillseachaidhean Com-pàirt

There were no declarations of interest.  

3.  The Committee resolved that, under Section 50A(4) of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973, the public be excluded from the meeting during discussion of Items 4 on the grounds that they involved the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 7A of the Act.

4.  Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982
Application for Taxi Driver’s Licence
Achd Riaghaltais Chatharra (Alba) 1982
Iarrtasan airson Cheadachdan do Dhràibhearan

4.1      Application for Renewal of Taxi Driver’s Licence – Mr Raymond Paterson

There had been circulated to members only Report No HLC/057/14 by the Legal Manager which related to an application which had been received from Mr Raymond Paterson for the renewal of a taxi driver’s licence. 

Mr R Paterson did not attend the meeting.  Nor did any representative attend to speak on behalf of Mr Paterson. 

The Senior Licensing Officer advised that following receipt of a letter from Police Scotland, the Legal Manager had suspended this licence in terms of paragraph 12 of Schedule 1 to the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982.  The suspension only had effect to the date of this meeting.   Members were asked to determine whether the licence holder remained a fit and proper person to hold a taxi driver’s licence and whether any action should be taken against the licence holder in the form of an order under Paragraph 11 suspending his licence.  He confirmed that Mr Paterson had been invited to attend the meeting and had subsequently submitted a letter advising that he was no longer driving a taxi and that he did not intend renewing his licence when it expired.

The Committee heard from Detective Inspector A Ingram, Police Scotland. 

The Committee AGREED to suspend the licence under paragraph 11 of Schedule 1 of the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 with immediate effect and for the unexpired portion of the duration of the licence on the grounds that the licence holder is no longer a fit and proper person to hold the licence and that the carrying on of the activity to which the licence relates is likely to cause a threat to public safety.

The meeting closed at 10.45 pm.