TO: CHAIR AND MEMBERS OF
THE LICENSING COMMITTEE
FOR 15 OCTOBER 2007 REF. NO. 65/07
ITEM FOR DECISION
APPLICATION FOR HACKNEY CARRIAGE VEHICLE LICENCE
MOHAMMED AZAM, 16 CONNAUGHT ROAD, MIDDLESBROUGH
1.0 PURPOSE OF REPORT
1.1To advise Members of an application to re-licence a Peugeot Euro-7, registration
number Y 483 THS, as a hackney carriage.
2.0 RECOMMENDATIONS
2.1 Members should consider the report prepared by the Council’s Vehicle Examiner
(Appendix 1) in respect of registration number Y 483 THS and determine whether they consider it to be in ‘exceptional condition’ in accordance with the criteria determined in the Vehicle Examiners report. Should Members wish to inspect the vehicle, the Applicant has been asked to produce the vehicle at the Town Hall.
2.2 Members determine whether or not this application should be approved, in the light of
their findings.
3.0 FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS
3.1The applicant has paid a fee of £406 in respect of this application.
4.0 BACKGROUND
4.1 In July 1988 the Direct Services Committee of Middlesbrough Borough Council introduced an age limit policy for hackney carriages which determined that, amongst other things, a vehicle must be less than 3 years old when first licensed and could be re-licensed up to its sixth birthday.
4.2 The Council’s policies were reviewed in July 1992, August 1997 and again in May 2005 and the age policy was retained on each occasion. It would however be unreasonable for any Council to have a ‘blanket’ condition or policy as this removes the requirement to consider each application on its merits and therefore there has always been the proviso that the age restrictions may be relaxed at the discretion of the Council provided that the vehicle presented is of ‘exceptional condition’.
4.3 Although it is difficult to properly define ‘exceptional condition’ and therefore each case must be judged on its merits, to assist Members there is appended to this report (Appendix 1) a list of points which should be considered when determining if a vehicle is in exceptional condition. This was devised with the assistance of the Council’s vehicle testing section and has been used by Members in the past when such applications have been made.
4.4 At the meeting of the Licensing Committee on 16.05.05 Members re-affirmed the age restriction policy, confirming that only exceptional and well maintained vehicles would be considered for licensing beyond the sixth anniversary of the date of first registration and confirmed that it would no longer be necessary for members to examine a vehicle which is the subject of an application for a hackney carriage application unless it be considered necessary to do so in a particular case.
INFORMATION
5.1On 20.07.07 an application was received from Mohammed Azam to re-licence a Peugeot Euro-7, registration number Y 483 THS, as a hackney carriage. The vehicle was licensed by the Applicant as a hackney carriage, however, its licence expired on 30.06.07. The vehicle was 6 years old on 25.07.07.
5.2 Council records show that the vehicle was first licensed as a hackney carriage on 27.07.07 by Mohammed Latif of 38 Athol Street, Middlesbrough. At this time the vehicle’s recorded mileage was 220.
5.3 On 27.02.01 the vehicle licence was transferred to Mohammed Ghafoor of 17 Albert Terrace, Middlesbrough.
5.4 On 09.10.03 the vehicle licence was transferred to Zafar Iqbal of 28 Cornfield Road, Middlesbrough.
5.5 On 19.02.07 the vehicle licence was transferred to the Applicant.
5.6 The testing history of vehicle registration number Y 457 THS is as follows:-
Date of Test Outcome Recorded Mileage Recorded Vehicle Condition
26.07.01pass220very good
17.02.02pass15,224good
20.06.02pass23,638good
04.12.02pass37,699good
23.06.03fail
02.07.03pass64,884not recorded
25.11.03pass88,132fair
30.06.0424 hr/pass111,734not recorded
08.12.04pass127,443fair
28.06.05pass151,417fair
05.12.05pass167,343fair
26.06.06pass189,771good
05.12.06pass203,293poor
21.09.07pass223,456exceptional
5.7 The Applicant was interviewed by the Senior Licensing Officer on 01.10.07 in relation to the application.
5.8 He stated that he was seeking to licence the vehicle for a further 12 months as the vehicle, in his view, is in exceptional condition.
5.9 The Applicant stated that he has been driving this vehicle himself since the licence was transferred to him on 19.02.07. He stated that he has been involved in the taxi trade for nearly thirty years and immediately realised that the vehicle was in very good condition for it’s age, though he was aware that some work was required before the vehicle would meet the Council’s high requirements for licensed vehicles. The Applicant stated that he did however, believe that the financial outlay required for the work on the vehicle was well worth it as, in his opinion, the vehicle is now in better condition than many vehicles currently licensed by the Council as hackney carriages.
5.10 The vehicle registration number Y 483 THS was examined by the Council’s Vehicle Examiner on 21.09.07. Following the inspection the examiner completed the report detailed at Appendix 1 and stated that, in his opinion, the vehicle is in exceptional condition.
5.0 OPTIONS AVAILABLE TO MEMBERS
6.1There are 2 options available to Members as follows:-
i) After consideration of the Vehicle Examiners report, if Members do not consider the vehicle to be in exceptional condition they may wish to refuse to grant this application. The applicant will then have the right of appeal to the Magistrates Court.
ii) After consideration of the Vehicle Examiners report, if Members do consider the vehicle to be in exceptional condition they may wish to grant this licence for a specific period, not exceeding one year, after which a fresh application could be considered by Members.
Contact Officer:John Hodgson
Senior Licensing Officer
Ext. 728720
Ed Chicken
Head of Community Protection
15 October 2007
COMMITTEE RESULTS FOR
ADMIN PURPOSES ONLY
GRANT/RENEW/REFUSE/REVOKE/
SUSPEND/RETAIN/WARNING/OTHER
REASONS:-
DATE OF COMMITTEE : 15 October 2007
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