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Had to convert this from pdf with a free coverter of web,its not perfect I have tried to tidy it up but you should get the gist.
Report
on an Investigation into
Complaint No 99/C/2407 against
Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council
March 2000
23 March 2000
Mr A Cooley
46 Grasmere Avenue
DONCASTER
South Yorkshire
DN26NIJ
Our Ref: 99/C/2407/PAT/VW
If telephoning, please ask for Mr Stay's Personal Assistant 01904 663225
Dear Mr Cooley
My investigation of your complaint is now complete. I enclose a copy of my report A copy is also being sent to the Chief Executive of the Council.
The Council now has to make a press announcement within two weeks of receiving the report and to make the renort available for public inspection at one or more of its offices for a period of three weeks. You are free to let other people see your copy of the report if you wish. In accordance with the Local Government Act 1974, the report does not mention the name of any person.
Copies of the report, together with a press release, which again does not use real names. will be sent to the media under embargo until 1.00 a.m. on the sixth working day after the date of issue of the report (and the date of this letter).
Unless you want them returned to you, any papers you sent about your complaint will be kept for two years and will then be destroyed.
Yours sincerely
Mrs P A Thomas
Investigation into Complaint No 99/C/2407
Against Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council
Report Summary
Licensing
The complainant operates a fleet of private hire vehicles. In the belief that he was operating unlawfully the Council removed the licence plate from one of his vehicles for a weekend. It failed to recognise that the complainant was entitled to carry on trading pending any appeal.
It also failed to notify him of his right of appeal.The failure to allow the complainant to carry on trading and to notify him of his rights was maladministration which caused injustice.
The Council has agreed to compensate the complainant for his loss of income
Decision
Local Settlement
Introduction
Mr De Niro operates a fleet of private hire vehicles. He complains that the Council acted wrongly when one of its ofifcers removed the licence plate from one of his vehicles, having suspended the licence in the belief that the driver had committed an offence under the law on licencing
The law generally requires me to report without naming or identifying the complainant or other individuals. The names used in this report are therefore not the real names of the people and places involved.
An officer of the Commission has spoken with Mr De. Niro, and has interviewed an ofifcer of the Council.
An opportunity has been given for Mr De Nim and the Council to comment on a draft of this report prior to the addition of ..he conclusion
Legal and Administrative Background
Private hire vehicles are licensed by the Council and must display licence plates. Such vehicles are not allowed to 'ply for hire' (as distinct from 'hackney carriages' or `taxis'); that is they are not allowed to wait on the street for business in anticipation of a fare. Journeys must be booked in advance
A vehicle licence may be suspended owing to speciifed faults or "any other
reasonable cause". The owner of the vehicle may appeal against a suspension to a magistrates- court within 21 days.
The law states:-
If any decision...against which a right of appeal is conferred makes it unlawful for any person to carry out a business which he was lawfully carrying on up to the time of the ...decision; then until the time for appealing has expired (or the appeal is heard or withdrawn)...that person may carry out that business.
A textbook on the law relevant to this complaint' states that
"The effect of section 77(2) of the 1976 Act is to stay any action pending the determination of an appeal. In practice, this means
that, if the appeal is against a refusal to renew a Licence or a decision to suspend or revoke a licence, the licence is deemed to remain in force, pending the determination of the ap However, if it is.an application for a new licence, then, as there is no ilcence already in force, the mechsn ism does not work and the licence will not be deemed to come into existence until the court overturns the decision of the local authority or, if it is an appeal to the Crown Court from the decision at the magistrates' court the
decision of the magistrates."
Investigaiton
On a Friday evening in August 1998 the Council, with the Poilce,
led out a surveillance of private hire vehicles, designed to curb the illegal practice of plying for hire. The licence of one of Mr De Niro' s vehicles was suspended on the ground that it had been operating in that way. The driver of the vehicle and Mr De Niro both deny the offence.
The formal notice suspending the ilcence makes no reference to any right of appeal.
Following the issue of the notice suspending the vehicle licence, its licence plates were removed, thus preventing it from being able to be used legally for private hire business.
Mr Dc Niro did not appeal against the suspension of the licence. He visited the Council's licensing ofifce on. the Monday following the suspension and the licence plates were returned to him following the payment of an administrative fee. The Council considered bringing a prosecution but delays resulted in any action being time-barred.
Mr De Niro did not pay the driver during the petiod when the vehicle was off the road but says that he lost profits which he would otherwise have made from the vehicle's use. He estimates the loss at .E200-£300.
I asked the Council why it had removed the licence plates prior to the expiry of the period for appeal, thus preventing the vehicle from being used for private hireThe Council said that., although the law allows a business to continue after suspension up to expiry of the time for appeal, it does so only in respect of a business which has been carried out lawfullyIt said that because the business had been carried on in an unlawful manner (by plying for hire), the actions which it took were reasonable and prevented further unlawful use over the weekend.
An officer of the Council says that the action should be seen in the context of the Council's previous contact with Mr De Niro. He had been warned several times that officers had observed his vehicles plying for hire and that he had a duty to prevent such use. A letter to that effect had been sent to Mr De Niro in February 1998. The ofifcer says that members of Mr De Niro's firm had reacted badly to the decision to suspend the licence (they were later successfully prosecuted for a breach of the peace). Removal of the plate was seen as a reasonable action to take in order to prevent the possibility of further offences being committed.
The officer also points out that Mr De Niro had other vehicles with which to carry on his business.
Following receipt of the draft of this report the Council has accepted that it acted wrongly and has offered to compensate Mr De Niro for his loss of income. It has also revised its procedures to prevent similar problems in future.
Conclusion
I commend the Council for accepting that it was at fault in removing Mr De Niro's ilcence plate and preventing him from trading pending any appeal against suspension. The Council's maladministration caused Mr De Niro some loss of income and the Council has agreed to compensate him for that. That will provide an appropriate remedy for his injustice.
I welcome the Council's assurance that its procedures.have been revised. I trust that the notice suspending a licence will also in future include information about the right of appeal.
Mrs P A Thomas
Local Government Ombudsman
Beverley House
17 Shipton Road
York
Y030 5FZ
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