To decide whether to licence a vehicle outside the standards vehicle licence conditions.

The Licensing Officer presented a report about an application to licence a vehicle outside standard condition 3.1 which stated that ‘For a new Private Hire Licence application, the vehicle to be licensed shall not be more than two years old for any type of vehicle’. He advised Members that this condition had been in place since 2002 and that the applicant had been advised of this prior to purchasing the vehicle. He was further advised that he could, if he wished, apply to the Sub-Committee to licence the vehicle outside standard conditions.

In response to a question from the Acting Principal Lawyer, the Licensing Manager confirmed that the condition had been taken from the national model conditions guidance and had been subject to consultation with the trade and government bodies prior to its introduction.

The applicant advised the Committee that the vehicle was an executive vehicle manufactured by Mercedes. He added that the vehicle was 2 years and 9 months old at the time of his application. He gave a background of his employment in the taxi trade and advised that he wished to move into the executive travel field and therefore required a high specification luxury vehicle to enable this. He added that a new vehicle would be too expensive to purchase and requested that his application be granted.

In response to a further question from the Acting Principal Lawyer, the applicant advised that the vehicle he wished to licence had covered 38,000 miles and was purchased for executive use. He added that neighbouring authorities Worcestershire and Gloucestershire permitted vehicles of 4 and 5 year’s old to be licensed. He also noted that if he was currently in possession of an older private hire plate the vehicle could be licensed.

In summing up he drew Members attention to the two part vehicle test undertaken by the Council and was of the opinion that this test would identify his vehicle as being suitable and fit for purpose. He added that he could have bought a lower specification new car but that it would not be fit for executive travel.

RESOLVED

That the application for a licence outside of standard condition 3.1 be refused.

To decide whether to licence a vehicle outside the standards vehicle licence conditions.

The Committee noted that the applicant was currently on holiday, and could not be present at the hearing. However following advice from their legal advisor they decided that they could determine the application in the applicant’s absence.

The Sub-Committee noted that the conditions were extensively consulted upon and agreed by Members of the main Regulatory Committee.  It was noted that whilst each application must be considered on its own merits there did not appear to be any compelling circumstances to deviate from the model conditions in this case.  In summing up they added that the condition regarding age had been in place since 2002 and the applicant was fully aware of this condition prior to purchasing his vehicle.

RESOLVED

THAT the application to licence a vehicle outside of the standard vehicle conditions be refused.