Manchester City Council refuses private hire licence renewal after fatal collision conviction and DBS delay
- Perry Richardson
- 6 minutes ago
- 2 min read
Manchester City Council has refused to renew a private hire driver licence after a licensing officers concluded the applicant was not fit and proper to continue driving, following convictions linked to a fatal road collision.
The decision was taken at a Licensing and Appeals Sub Committee hearing on 22 December 2025, where councillors considered case involving a renewal application from a private hire driver.
The panel heard that the driver held convictions for failing to stop after an accident and failing to comply with traffic light signals, offences that together resulted in ten penalty points. The incident occurred in July 2023 and later led to a conviction in September 2024.
The council was informed in November 2024 that the driver’s DBS certificate was no longer valid, but the updated certificate detailing the convictions was not provided until September 2025, despite repeated requests from the licensing unit.
Licensing panel rules driver not fit and proper following serious motoring offences and disclosure failures
During the hearing, the driver explained that the collision occurred during heavy rain and poor visibility while travelling to a job in the city centre. The driver said they felt a thud but did not believe it was a serious collision at the time, later discovering damage to the vehicle and returning to the scene after visiting a garage. The driver entered a guilty plea at court and confirmed there were no passengers in the vehicle at the time.
The driver also told councillors they had been on antidepressants since the incident and had experienced the death of a parent shortly beforehand. They acknowledged they should have reported the matter to the council sooner and said they did not yet feel ready to return to driving work, despite requesting the licence renewal.
In its deliberations, the Sub Committee noted that while the convictions fell within the council’s licensing guidelines, the seriousness of the offences, combined with the five-month delay in providing an updated DBS certificate, weighed heavily against the application. Councillors also took account of the driver’s own admission that they were not currently ready to resume licensed driving.
The panel ultimately determined that the licensee did not meet the required standard to hold a private hire driver licence and refused the renewal application.
