Agenda and minutes

Councillor Bird was appointed as Chair for the meeting.

No declarations of interest were made.

All parties noted the procedure.

The Committee received a report from the Technical Licensing Officer concerning the renewal application of the private hire operator’s licence for Uber Britannia Ltd (UBL) in Cambridge.

The Technical Licensing Officer went through the report in detail with the Committee, a copy of which could be viewed at the following link (pages 5 to 11):

https://democracy.cambridge.gov.uk/mgChooseDocPack.aspx?ID=3314

In response to a question from the Committee the Technical Licensing Officer confirmed it was not unusual for a private hire company to be licensed with more than one authority.

Before any further discussion took place, Asitha Ranatunga, Barrister, representing Cambridge City Council, recommended the Committee consider a confidential paper submitted by UBL (a redacted copy had been made available in the public domain).

The report contained exempt information during which the public and press were likely to be excluded from the meeting subject to determination by the Committee following consideration of a public interest test.  This exclusion would be made under paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972.

Resolved (unanimously) to exclude the press and public if and when agreed confidential items of the additional report needed to be discussed.    

Philip Kolvin QC then provided a summary of the UBL submission by outlining the following about the Applicant:

     i.        Had a good operating history in Cambridge.

    ii.        Had a good relationship with Cambridge City Council.

   iii.        Was popular amongst its customers.

  iv.        Held a good safety record.

   v.        Had no complaints from its customers to the Council.

  vi.        Was ready, willing and able to make changes when required by the Cambridge City Council.

 vii.        Agreed to all conditions proposed in Appendix I (p117) of the agenda pack.

viii.        The Directors of UBL (both DBS checked) were of impeccable character whose job was to ensure that Uber was a cooperative and compliant licencee.

The Committee were informed that UBL agreed with the policy approach undertaken by Cambridge City Council, emphasising section 5 Policy Consideration and section 6 Options of the Officer’s report.

Fred Jones advised the Committee that UBL had been working with the City Council’s enforcement team to resolve any issues that had occurred in the twelve month period. This was exemplified by moving the pickup point at Cambridge City Railway Station further away from Hackney Carriage vehicles with clear instructions to drivers on where they can and can’t park.

After providing a working history, business model and technology model of Uber, Philip Kolvin QC explained that he would give a response to the objections made as highlighted in the agenda and additional papers to the agenda pack:

     i.        He referred to the list of considerations posed by Transport for London’s (TfL) licensing decision on page 45 of the agenda.

·        Highlighted Uber’s commitment to working with the police and reporting any known criminal offences. Referenced the second condition on page 117 of the agenda.

·         The approach to undertaking medical checks had changed from using the online ’Push Doctor’ service to ensuring each driver saw a  ...  view the full minutes text for item 17/27/Lic