Private hire driver loses licence after member of his family TOOK HIS CAR and was caught speeding
Updated: Feb 6, 2022
A Bolton licensed private hire driver had his licence revoked after licensing officials were notified of an incident where a member of the driver's family borrowed his vehicle and was caught speeding.
Committee members were concerned over whether the driver could still be considered fit-and-proper to hold a licence after a number of different incidents where the same offence had been committed.
In 2020, the unnamed driver failed to give information as to the identity of the driver resulting in a fine and penalty points.
The Sub-Committee was concerned that the driver had breached the conditions of his licence by failing to declare conviction and only declared it when he was required to submit a self-certification form that had been introduced by the Licensing Unit during the pandemic as a temporary measure to enable licences to be extended. As a result, the conviction was declared 262 days late.
The Sub-Committee was also concerned that the driver had attended the Sub-Committee in November 2016 for the same offence and had received a twelve week period of suspension.
He had also attended the Sub-Committee in September 2011 for the same offence and received a one week suspension.
Members were extremely concerned that this was the third time that the driver had been convicted of the same offence and felt that he was developing a serious pattern of behaviour that was not acceptable for a licence holder. He was not taking the conditions of his licence seriously and was not learning from past mistakes.
Members were also concerned that the offence from January 2020 had resulted in a substantial fine and six penalty points.
The driver claimed that one of his family members had borrowed his car without his knowledge and committed a speeding offence. He had not managed to establish who had taken the keys and, although he had questioned everyone who had access to his car, no-one had admitted to speeding.
As a result, he had not returned the necessary forms to the police with details of the driver of the vehicle at the time of the offence and had been convicted for not supplying the necessary information as to the driver.
The driver assured members that this would not happen again and that he had changed the insurance on his car so that no third party could drive it.
Members were extremely concerned that other members of the driver’s family were able to have access to the car and drive it without the driver’s knowledge.
They felt that allowing an unlicensed driver to have access to and drive a licensed private hire vehicle posed a serious threat to the safety of the public and that the driver had been extremely irresponsible in allowing this to happen.
Committee members made the decision to revoke the driver's private hire licence with immediate effect.
