Agendas, reports and minutes

Minute of the meeting of the Highland Licensing Committee held in the Council Chamber, Glenurquhart Road, Inverness on Friday 7 February 2017 at 10.00 am.

Present:

Dr I Cockburn, Mr A Duffy (excluding Item 11.1), Mr C Fraser (from item 7), Mr R Greene, Mr A Henderson (excluding Item 11.1), Mrs L Macdonald, Ms M Smith, Mr J Stone and Mr H Wood.

Non-Committee Members present:

Mr J McGillivray

In attendance:

Ms S Blease, Principal Solicitor (Regulatory Services)
Miss C McArthur, Solicitor (Regulatory Services)
Mr C Ratter, Environmental Health Officer
Ms J Sutherland, Senior Engineer, Transport
Mr M Elsey, Senior Licensing Officer
Mrs A MacArthur, Administrative Assistant

Also attending:

Sergeant B Gray, Police Scotland
Inspector E Henderson, Police Scotland
Item 6:  Mr R Munro, Mrs A Munro, Sneckie Taxis, Mr R Ormundson, taxi driver,
Mr D Reid, Taxi Driver, Mr G Ritchie, Mr P Semple

Dr I Cockburn in the chair

The Chairman confirmed that the meeting would be webcast and gave a short briefing on the Council’s webcasting procedure and protocol.

Business

1.  Apologies for absence
Leisgeulan

Apologies for absence were received from Mr W MacKay, Mr J Rosie and Mrs G Sinclair.  

2.  Declarations of interest
Foillseachaidhean Com-pàirt

There were no declarations of interest.

3.  Confirmation of minutes
Dearbhadh a’ Gheàrr-chunntais

There had been submitted for confirmation as a correct record the minute of meeting of the Committee held on 6 January 2017 which was APPROVED.

4.  Licences granted under delegated powers
Ceadachdan a Bhuilicheadh fo Ughdarras air a Thiomnadh

There had been circulated Report No HLC/005/17 by the Principal Solicitor detailing licences granted under delegated powers under the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 in the period from 14 December 2016 to 25 January 2017.

The Committee NOTED the report.

5.  Pending applications – 3 monthly considerations
Iarrtasan ri Thighinn – Beachdachaidhean 3 Mìosach

There had been circulated Report No HLC/006/17 by the Principal Solicitor relating to applications which were currently pending for the grant or renewal of licences under the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982.

The Committee AGREED to defer determination of the applications, either:

1. to allow them to be approved under delegated powers in the event that no objections/representations are received and all outstanding documentation has been received from the applicants; or
2. to a future meeting of the Committee when the applications will be determined in terms of the hearings procedure.

6.  Taxi tariff review
Ath-sgrùdadh air taraif thagsaidhean

There had been circulated Report No HLC/007/17 by the Principal Solicitor which provided the Committee with details of the responses received following the public advertisement of the proposed revised scale of the maximum fares that can be charged by taxis and private hire cars fitted with taxi meters.  The Committee had been invited to consider the responses received and thereafter agree a final tariff.  The new taxi tariff would be implemented on the 3 April 2017 and not 27 March 2017 as stated in the Report.

Taxi operators and taxi driver’s made the following representations:

• that the waiting time remain as it was at £18;
• that the waiting time be amended from £18 to £25;
• the credit card charge, which covered the charge from the machine supplier, the charge by the credit card company for each card use and the monthly charge from the bank for this service, be a maximum of five per cent to cover the charges levied on debit and credit card payments;
• the soiling charge should be raised from £60 to £100 as the soiling charge was primarily a preventative measure and a deterrent for customers and it should also cover the costs involved in cleaning the taxi and the time when the taxi was off hire;
• the supplementary booking charge be amended to the tariff that applied at the time of day the journey started;
• that the tariffs should remain as they were; and
• that the tariffs should increase to the Scottish National Average as outlined in Appendix 4 of the Report;

Each item of the tariff was then taken in turn.

Ms M Smith, seconded by Mrs L MacDonald, moved that tariff 1 should be increased in line with the Scottish National Average.

Mr A Henderson, seconded by Mr R Greene, moved as an amendment that the tariff remain as detailed in Appendix 2 of the Report.

For the motion (4):

Mr I Cockburn, Mr A Duffy, Mrs L MacDonald and Ms M Smith.

For the amendment (4):

Mr R Greene. Mr A Henderson, Mr J Stone and Mr H Wood.

There being a hung vote the Chairman cast his deciding vote in favour of the motion and the motion became the finding of the meeting with the tariff being increased to the Scottish National Average.

The Committee therefore AGREED to revise the tariff as follows with effect from 3 April 2017:

1. Increase the price of the first mile from £3.80 to £4.00 and the price per mile thereafter to be increased from £1.40 to £1.80 per mile for Tariff 1 in line with the Scottish national average;
2. Tariff 2 and Tariff 3 are to remain the same as they are currently;
3. Increase the charge for waiting time from £18.00 per hour to £25.00 per hour;
4. Introduce a notice of the charge for payment by credit card and debit cards.  The charge can be up to a maximum of 5% of the fare;
5. Increase the soiling charge from a maximum of £60.00 to a maximum of £100;
6. Amend the outward journey supplementary booking charge to compensate for the cost of the outward journey for hires which commence 3 miles or more away from the taxi or taxi base (whichever is the nearer). The maximum charge shall be the actual cost at the tariff which applies at the time of travelling between the starting location of the taxi or the location of the taxi base (as the case may be) and the pick-up point or drop-off point, whichever is the closer to the taxi or taxi base.  This booking charge is in addition to the fare chargeable at the appropriate tariff for the journey from the pick-up point to the drop-off point. This charge may only be demanded if the customer is informed of the amount of the charge at the time of booking.

7.  Proposed amendment to the taxi driver’s, private hire car driver’s and private hire car operator’s licence conditions
Atharrachadh a Thathar a’ Moladh a thaobh chumhaichean ceadachd do dhràibhearan tagsaidh, dhràibhearan chàraichean fastaidh phrìobhaidich agus obraichean chàraichean fastaidh phrìobhaidich

There had been circulated Report No HLC/008/17 by the Principal Solicitor inviting the Committee to consider proposed amendments to condition 14 of the taxi and private hire car driver’s licence conditions and condition 12 of the private hire car operator’s licence conditions.

The Committee AGREED to implement the proposed amendments to condition 14 of the taxi drivers and private hire cars driver’s licence conditions and condition 12 of the private hire car operator’s licence conditions subject to a period of grace of 3 years from the first date on which the amended conditions are applied, during which the new conditions will not be enforced, to allow the trade to adapt and for a level playing field to be established.

8.  Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982
Application for street trader’s licence
Achd Riaghaltais Chatharra (Alba) 1982
Iarrtas airson ceadachd neach-malairt sràide

8.1  Application for a street trader’s licence – Gaius Bowie

There had been circulated Report No HLC/009/17 by the Principal Solicitor relating to an application which had been received from Gaius Bowie for the renewal of a street trader’s licence. The applicant had now presented a vehicle for inspection and the vehicle had been passed by Environmental Health. 

The Committee AGREED that the licence had been granted under delegated powers as the outstanding objection from Environmental Health has now been withdrawn following inspection of the vehicle.

9.  Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982
Application for second hand vehicle dealer’s licence
Achd Riaghaltais Chatharra (Alba) 1982
Ceadachdan Luchd-malairt Ath-làimhe

9.1  Premises – Dornoch MOT Centre, Dornoch

There had been circulated Report No HLC/010/17 by the Principal Solicitor relating to an application for a second hand vehicle dealer’s licence in respect of premises at Dornoch MOT Centre, Dornoch.  The Report advised that objections had been received from Roads and Transport and Housing Services.

A statement had been received from the applicant and was circulated and read out to committee.  For clarification the Clerk pointed out the garage, for the second hand vehicle dealer’s licence, on the photo attached to the applicant’s statement.

Mr C Rattar and Ms J Sutherland, addressed the Committee on their objections which had been in relation to parking issues.

In response to questions from Members regarding parking problems, the Clerk advised, that only the second hand vehicle dealer’s licence could be conditioned and not the associated vehicle repair garage and MOT side of the business.  There was an existing condition on the licence which restricted vehicles to within the curtilage of the garage, vehicles attending the vehicle garage for MOT did not form part of this licence.

The Committee AGREED to grant the application subject to the standard licence conditions.

10.  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 the following items 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.

11.  Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982
Taxi driver’s / operator’s licences
Achd Riaghaltais Chatharra (Alba) 1982
Iarrtasan airson cheadachdan do dhràibhearan / oibrichean tagsaidh

11.1  Licensed taxi driver – Thomas Coyle

There had been circulated to members only Report No HLC/011/17 by the Principal Solicitor relating to Thomas Coyle who was the holder of a taxi driver’s licence.  Mr Coyle’s licence had been suspended by the Principal Solicitor and Head of Corporate Governance / Depute Chief Executive as the applicant had failed to meet the Group 2 (PSV) standard.

Mr Coyle did not attend.

The Committee AGREED to suspend the licence under Paragraph 11 of Schedule 1 for the unexpired portion of the licence and with immediate effect and provide the Principal Solicitor with delegated powers to recall the suspension should the licence holder submit confirmation in writing from his GP that he now meets the Group 2 (PSV) medical standards.

11.2  Licensed taxi operator and taxi driver – Marion Stephen

There had been circulated to members only Report No HLC/012/17 by the Principal Solicitor relating to Marion Stephen who was the holder of a taxi driver’s licence.  The Report advised that an objection had been received from Police Scotland.

Ms Stephen had forwarded a letter from the DVLA and as she no longer held a valid driving licence her taxi driver licence was no longer valid.

The Committee AGREED to note that the taxi driver’s licence has ceased to have effect given written confirmation from the DVLA that the licence holder’s entitlement to drive was revoked from 28 January 2017.

The meeting closed at 12.20 pm.