A man jailed for 18 months for his part in a "major" fraud ring involving pirate set-top cable TV boxes has been refused permission to become an Uber driver. Bristol city councillors rejected his application for a private hire driver licence because it is too soon since his conviction.
Public safety and protection sub-committee members heard that the man, who works at a restaurant in Thornbury, was convicted in 2016 and completed his sentence in February 2018, but the authority’s policy is that seven years must have elapsed after it ended. Councillors were not satisfied that he was a fit and proper person to hold a licence and refused to make an exception in his case.
Recently published minutes of the private hearing at City Hall in June said the offence dated back to 2008 and “involved the arrangement of fraudulent set-top cable boxes”. They said: “This was a major case for which the applicant was under the umbrella.”
The applicant’s representative told the panel that he did not lead the gang and the crime was non-violent, so the man, referred to only as JR in the council papers, did not present a risk to the public. The minutes said it had been six years since the conviction and 14 years since the offence, so it took a long time to reach court.
“The representative said he believes the applicant is a reliable individual with a history of good conduct,” they said. “The policy starting point for this type of offence is not to grant a licence until seven years has passed since the completion of a sentence.
“There was a large organisation based in Leicester that was manufacturing and supplying fake set-top boxes for cable TV. The applicant received an 18-month prison sentence, which indicates the court regarded this as a serious offence.
“The applicant had a server installed in his property which facilitated the boxes, hence the serious sentence. Since release, the applicant has been working in a restaurant in Thornbury.
“If he were to be licensed, he intends to work for Uber.” The minutes added: “JR was convicted of an offence involving dishonesty on the criminal standard of proof and was sentenced to a significant period of imprisonment, which reflects that the court considered the offending conduct to be at the more serious end of the scale.
“The committee decided to refuse the application on the ground that it cannot be satisfied that JR is a fit and proper person to hold a private hire driver’s licence or that this case should be treated as an exception to policy without undermining it.”
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