IN THE NEWS COURT RULES DRIVER’S SUSPENSION BY FENLAND DISTRICT COUNCIL WAS UNLAWFUL
Fenland District Coun- cil has apologised after a taxi driver won a landmark court rul- ing that a decision to suspend his licence was unlawful. “Some- times we get things wrong and that has been the case here,” a council spokesman admitted.
The court ruling came after David Drew won his appeal before Fen- land magistrates last month against the council’s licensing committee decision to suspend his licence for three months, claiming he had accrued nine penalty points for minor speeding offences. However, three of the penalty points had been removed from Mr Drew’s DVLA licence because they were
more than three years old. Michael Sullivan, chairman of the bench, ruled that the decision was illegal since there was “no power for a licence to be withdrawn in this fashion. The decision to withdraw Mr Drew’s licence was an ultra vires one.”
Magistrates ordered the council to pay Mr Drew’s legal costs of £2,200, but they could also be facing a claim for compensation from a second driver, John Burnham. Mr Burn- ham, 73, said he was forced into retirement because he couldn’t afford to appeal against his suspen- sion, which was issued under the same circumstances – accrued points on his licence, three of which
David Drew, left, with Cllr David Patrick, right, and solicitor Anthony Schiller, second right. Photo courtesy of the Wisbech Standard
had been spent – as that of Mr Drew. Mr Burnham told the Cambridgeshire Times: “The whole scenario has been
soul destroying. I couldn’t afford to go to court so lost three months of work and had to sell my car. was forced into an
I
early retirement after I’d given 27 years of loyal service.” Antony Schiller, who defended Mr Drew, told magistrates: “The rule is that penalty points last for three years, not four. How can the council with- hold Mr Drew’s licence after they had already renewed it? He didn’t have more than six points on his licence and shouldn’t have been in front of the committee. He didn’t even come close to losing his driving licence.”
Cllr David Patrick, chairman of the NPHA affiliated Wisbech and District Hackney Car- riage Drivers’ Asso- ciation, declared the decision a triumph for taxi drivers across Fenland. Cllr Patrick
told the Wisbech Stan- dard: “Justice has been served because the council acted total- ly illegally in withholding Mr Drew’s licence. The whole licensing system needs to be over- hauled, brought up to date and relevant laws should be interpreted correctly.”
The National Associa- tion, who assisted the trade in this matter, understands that at the time of this issue of PHTM going to press, neither Mr Drew nor Mr Burnham has yet received the apolo- gy promised to them by Fenland District Council.
Mmmm... Question for Cllr Patrick: Did you attend Court in your capacity as Councillor, or taxi driver? –Ed.
Conversions built to your specification for taxi and minibus use
PAGE 32
PHTM NOVEMBER 2010
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