The General Licensing Sub Committee met to consider an application for a Hackney/Private Hire Licence.

The meeting considered a report about an application for a Hackney/Private Hire Licence by Ms A. As this was the only application considered during this meeting, this was likely to be the most significant item to the public.

The meeting also considered a report entitled Taxi and Private Hire Licensing Policy: Fitness Criteria for Drivers and Operators . This policy was adopted on 10 March 2014, and sets out the criteria that Gwynedd Council uses when deciding whether to grant a licence. This includes:

• How the Council considers previous convictions or other matters. The policy states that:

Where an applicant has a conviction(s) or other matter(s) to be considered for a criminal offence, the council cannot review the merits of the conviction or other matter.

• How the council considers appeals against their decisions.
• The powers available to the council when considering applications.
• How the council considers spent and unspent convictions. The policy states that:

The Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions)(Amendment) Order 2002¹, allows the Licensing Authority to take into account all convictions recorded against an applicant or the holder of a private hire vehicle or hackney carriage driver’s licence, whether spent or not. Therefore the Licensing Authority will have regard to all relevant convictions, particularly where there is a long history of offending or a recent pattern of repeat offending.

• What the council considers to be relevant factors when an applicant has previous convictions.
• How the council considers offences involving violence.
• How the council considers sexual offences.
• How the council considers dishonesty.
• How the council considers drug offences.
• How the council considers driving offences.
• How the council considers breaches of legislation or licence conditions.