Hackney Carriage & Private Hire Licensing Policy - Fylde Borough ...

5.8.2 In relation to the consideration of convictions and cautions recorded againstpersons the Council will operate within the policy set out in Appendix Funder Relevance of Convictions.5.8.3 In assessing whether the applicant is a fit and proper person to hold alicence, the Council will consider each case on its merit. They will takeaccount of cautions and convictions, whether spent or unspent, but only inso far as they are relevant to an application for a licence. Upon receipt of adisclosure from the Criminal Records Bureau, the Licensing Officer willassess whether any or all of the spent convictions are capable of having realrelevance to the issue of whether or not the applicant is a fit and properperson to hold a licence.5.8.4 In relation to cautions, the Council will have regard to the class and age ofthe offence and the age of the applicant when the offence occurred, whenconsidering their relevance to an application. Cautions given more than oneyear before the date of application will generally be treated as irrelevant.5.8.5 In relation to previous convictions, the Authority will have regard to thefollowing:(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)Whether the convictions are spent or unspent;The class of the offences;The age of the offences;The apparent seriousness, as gauged by the penalty.5.8.6 Guidance in relation to specific offences, along with a summary of theprinciples of the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974, is given in Appendix F.In general terms, the more recent, serious and relevant to public safety theoffence is, the less likely that an application shall be granted.5.8.7 In particular, applications will be referred to the Public Protection Committeewhere the applicant’s record includes one or more of the following:• Any term of imprisonment or custody;• Any conviction for a violent or sexual offence, or dishonesty, whichis of a serious nature;• Any serious motoring offence, such as dangerous driving, drivingwhilst disqualified, or drink driving;• More than nine points have been acquired on their DVLA DrivingLicence.5.9 Application Procedure5.9.1 An application for a hackney carriage or private hire driver’s licence must bemade on the specified application form. The application procedure is set outin Appendix D.5.10 The Consideration of Applications5.10.1 No formal policy has been adopted in respect of the relevance of specificcriminal convictions in relation to applications for hackney carriage andprivate hire driver’s licences. The Authority has, however, generally workedto the guidelines set out in the DOT Circular 2/92 and HO Circular 13/92 inassessing the relevance of specific criminal convictions to a particularapplication.24