A TAXI driver has been suspended after licensing chiefs heard details of a speeding offence.

Members of the traffic matters licensing sub-committee found he was “not a fit and proper person to hold such a licence at this time” at a town hall meeting this week.

The panel, chaired by Cllr Martin Donaghy, came to the decision after hearing average speed cameras had recorded the private hire driver travelling at 48mph in a 40mph zone.

Members acknowledged that the driver had declared the conviction in accordance with his licence.

But they also noted that the driver previously had his licence for a two-week period in December 2014 after committing an offence.

And two further offences dating back to July 2010, for which no further action was taken, were also taken into consideration.

It also come to light that the driver had been offered a speed awareness course approximately three years ago, indicating additional speeding issues.

Minutes from the meeting, from which the public and press were excluded, state: “Drivers have a duty to adhere to speed limits at all times and exceeding them can be a real danger to public safety. There is therefore reasonable cause to renew and suspend the licence as a warning and as a deterrent.”

The panel also issued a warning letter to a hackney carriage driver after hearing how he made a false declaration after breaking the speed limit on the M6 motorway.

The driver declared that he had broken the passenger vehicle speed limit (an SP40 offence), rather than breaking the motorway speed limit (and SP50 offence).

He was captured by variable speed limit cameras and the true nature of the offence came was revealed after a council licensing officer made an online enquiry with the DVLA.

A third case was deferred to the next meeting of the Sub-Committee due to the non-attendance of the driver.

However, a decision will be made at the next meeting regardless of whether they are in attendance or not.