Bristol taxi driver 'failed to declare sleep disorder'

The driver failed to reveal the extent of his health issues twice, a council committee was told

A taxi driver who "placed the public at risk" by failing to disclose a serious sleep disorder and a heart condition has lost his licence.

The details emerged in the minutes of a Bristol City Council's Public Protection & Safety Sub-committee.

The driver should have informed the council when he was diagnosed with sleep apnoea, which causes breathing to stop and start,

But on his licence renewal application he said he had no health issues.

Recently-published minutes of the private committee said his declaration - made in March - was "plainly incorrect" because a medical report given to the licensing team by the driver himself said he was diagnosed with angina in June 2020 and the sleep condition in September 2022.

Angina is chest pain caused by reduced blood flow to the heart that warns of a stroke or heart attack.

The driver told the panel that he experienced sleep apnoea following a racially-motivated attack and that he believed treatment had helped, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS).

But councillors heard he had an "extensive history of behavioural issues", including "hostility to a traffic warden" and a collision with a cyclist in 2019.

The driver, who held a private hire licence since 2010, told the panel he was on medication for angina but that it was "suspected rather than diagnosed" and that because he had not had surgery he did not believe it was serious enough to declare.

However, members heard there was no evidence to suggest doctors only "suspected" angina.

The minutes, from the hearing on 25 July, said the sub-committee refused his licence renewal on the grounds that he was not a "fit and proper person" and that failing to disclose the health conditions was a licence breach.

It said he was diagnosed with angina in 2020 but did not declare it on his 2021 application form, meaning he has failed to reveal it twice.

This was a matter of "grave concern" the committee said, as had they had known the full extent of his health conditions his licence would have either been revoked or suspended.

"This had therefore placed the public at risk," the minutes said.