Wakefield Council apologises after taxi driver wrongly told to stop filming public meeting

Footage of the incident shows the chair of the council’s licensing committee asking driver Adil Hamid to switch his mobile phone off.

Mr Hamid has made a complaint over the incident which took place at Wakefield Town Hall on January 25 this year.

The filming of public meetings is permitted provided it does not disrupt the proceedings.

It is understood the council’s chief executive, Andrew Balchin, has “spoken to all parties concerned” and reminded officers of procedures.

The incident took place as councillors and officers discussed proposed changes to the council’s taxi driver suitability policy.

Footage shows committee chair Clive Tennant asking Mr Hamid to switch his phone off as he used it to recording the meeting from the public gallery.

Councillor Tennant makes the request seconds after being handed a note from a senior licensing officer.

Mr Hamid can be heard saying: “Are we not allowed to record in here?”

Councillor Tennant then asks: “Are you recording?”

Mr Hamid answers: “There is nothing written anywhere that says you can’t record. It’s a public meeting for the public to attend. Is there an issue with me recording?”

Coun Tennant then says: “Well we usually ask people to turn off all electrical devices before every meeting.”

Mr Hamid then says: “I’m recording. I’m not making any noise or anything.”

The meeting then resumes and Mr Hamid is allowed to continue filming.

Some Wakefield Council meetings are often recorded by council employees and streamed online, including full council and cabinet meetings.

Mr Hamid told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “I think it is poor that officers and people in charge of these meetings don’t seem to know the rules.

“I have attended plenty of licensing meetings in the past and recorded them on my phone without there being an issue.

“On this occasion, I had been filming for 45 minutes without anybody saying anything to me.

“I was sitting there quietly and not causing any disruption, so I just don’t understand what the problem was.”

Gillian Marshall, Wakefield Council’s chief legal officer, said: “Our licensing committee meetings are open to the public to ensure that all decisions are seen to be open and transparent.

“Filming and recording of a meeting is permitted so long as it is done in a way that does not disrupt the meeting or if private and confidential information is being discussed.

“We are sorry that on this occasion a miscommunication meant that filming of the meeting was prevented for a short time.

“This was resolved as quickly as possible, and we would like to reassure people that we are taking steps to ensure, as far as possible, that this does not happen again.”

At the meeting, committee members voted in favour of adopting a new policy to allow greater leniency for drivers convicted of minor motoring offences.

The previous policy had been described as “draconian”.

The council and drivers across the Wakefield district had been at loggerheads for more than three years over the so-called ‘six point rule’.

Under the old rules, drivers who racked up more than six points on their licence for minor offences in three years faced lengthy bans from the trade.

Last July, the council issued an apology after taxi drivers were blocked from entering a public meeting at County Hall.

Security staff eventually allowed the drivers in after a 25-minute stand-off once the chief executive had been informed of the situation.

In a statement released after that incident, Mr Balchin said: “Our licensing committee meetings are open to the public to ensure that all decisions are seen to be open and transparent.

“We are sorry that on this occasion a miscommunication meant that some people were not initially allowed into the meeting.

“This was resolved as quickly as possible, although we accept this has caused upset to those initially unable to access the meeting.

“We would like to reassure people that we are taking steps to ensure, as far as possible, that this does not happen again.”