A TAXI driver has had their private hire licence revoked by Cornwall Council after admitting to hitting a child.

The cabbie, who has not been named in documents published by the council, lost his licence after it was reviewed by the council’s licensing committee last month.

Details have only just been published in the minutes of the meeting which was held on June 21. The driver had operated in the Penwith area.

Councillors heard that the child claimed the driver had pinched their hands, grabbed their knee and hit them on the head with a coffee cup. The driver was at the review hearing, spoke in support of retaining his licence and answered questions from councillors.

The minutes state the driver “admitted that he transported a child under a school contract and the driver was not cleared by the council’s passenger transport section to undertake that contract. He further admitted at least one further such incident”.

It adds: “The special education needs co-coordinator and the deputy safeguarding lead at the school noted that when the child arrived at school after the journey from home he looked flustered and uncomfortable.

“The child in question alleged that during the journey the driver had pinched/squeezed the child’s hands, grabbed the child’s knee and the back of the child’s neck and hit the child on the head with the driver’s coffee cup.

"The majority of these incidents took place in front of three other children who were in the car. The driver admitted the incidents but not the detail. Upon questioning he conceded that he should have asked the child to sit in the back seat.

“The social worker noted that the child had a red mark, a lump and what looked like it would turn into a bruise above the right eye, where it was alleged that the child was hit with a coffee cup. The child’s foster carer had confirmed that the child had no marks or bruising to the head or neck that morning previous to the journey to school.”

The committee members decided to revoke the driver’s licence saying that they did not consider that he was a fit a proper person to hold such a licence.

When making the decision councillors are asked whether they would be happy for “their husbands, wife, son, daughter, granddaughter, person they cared about or vulnerable persons to travel alone in a vehicle”. The committee decided that they would not.

The minutes state that the police would be investigating the incident with the child and it was stated that the police were already investigating the driver with regards to another incident.