Taxi Driver Online

Greenock Telegraph
Tuesday, 11th May, 2010
Knifeman is given taxi licence

A MAN convicted of stabbing someone has been given a taxi driver's licence by councillors.

The controversial decision - taken against police advice - was made behind closed doors at a meeting of the council's general purposes board.

Lib Dem leader Alan Blair has questioned the way the decision was made - and believes it flies in the face of 'widepsread and justifiable feeling within Inverclyde concerning knife crime'.

The retired lawyer has now asked the council's legal and administration boss, Elaine Paterson, why taxi licence applications are handled in private.

Mr Blair said: "The first question is whether or not stronger legal advice should be available to councillors when reaching their decisions, and in particular assessing what weight to give to objections from the police.

"The second is why matters of this kind are dealt with in private. The licensing board deals with liquor licensing applications in public.

"I cannot understand why a similar procedure should not be followed by the general purposes board.

"Our starting point should surely be that the public has a right to know."

The successful applicant was found guilty at Greenock Sheriff Court of stabbing a woman during an incident which took place in June last year.

He was given 18 months probation and ordered to carry out community service.

Some members on the board voted against his application but were outnumbered.

One of them, councillor Tom Fyfe, pictured, said: "I moved against the application and I'm incandescent that a licence was granted to someone who is on probation for knife crime.

"The board should be there to uphold standards, otherwise what is the point of having it?"

Greenock's top police officer, Superintendent Grant Manders, of Strathclyde Police, recommended to the committee that the application should not be approved.

But he said: "Thereafter, the decision is the province of the council board and it is entirely proper they should make that decision."

A council spokesman said: "Members are entitled to exercise their discretion having taken into account all of the circumstances.

"Legal officers cannot direct the members to come to a particular decision - except where that decision is beyond the power of the board."

http://www.greenocktelegraph.co.uk/news ... i-licence/

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Theses councillors should be sacked this is a very poor decision and one that i think will be dealt with further up the chain of government.

Who elected such Pri*cks to be councillors...they'll be to busy filling in expense claims forms to worry whether licensing a knife weilding nutter is a good thing or a bad thing..