David Brown has surrendered his two taxi operator’s licences ahead of Highland Council’s special meeting, bringing an end to the controversial licensing case before councillors had the opportunity to reconsider the original decision.
The Highland Council confirmed it was notified on Monday, 3 August, that Mr Brown had surrendered both licences, which were subsequently handed into the Council’s headquarters.
As a result, the Council says there is now no legal basis for members to reconsider the Licensing Committee’s decision of 23 June 2026, when councillors voted to take no action in relation to the licences.
The special meeting of Highland Council will still go ahead at 11am on Tuesday, 4 August.
Instead of determining the licence application, councillors will be asked to consider an urgent motion from Council Convener Bill Lobban.
The motion states:
“This Council supports the decision of the Chief Officer Legal and Governance to bring the decision taken by Licensing Committee on 23 June 2026 to a special meeting of the Highland Council for further consideration. The surrender of these licences today (3 August 2026) means that they immediately ceased to have effect and consequently there is no decision for the special Council to reach today. We nevertheless wish it to be made known that this unprecedented action was justified.”
The decision to refer the original Licensing Committee decision back to the full Council had already been described as an extremely unusual step.
The Council said the Chief Officer for Legal and Corporate Governance referred the matter for further consideration on the grounds of “contravention of law” or “maladministration leading to injustice”, reflecting what it described as the seriousness and urgency of the case.
Commenting on Monday’s development, Council Convener Bill Lobban said:
“Today, David Brown surrendered his taxi operator licences, meaning there is no longer a legal basis to proceed with tomorrow’s Special Meeting of The Highland Council.
“Had the item gone ahead, I am confident the full membership of the Council would have made the right decision based on the information before them.
“Personally, having considered the papers submitted for the special meeting originally to be held tomorrow, I find it impossible to understand how the Licencing Committee reached their original decision.
“The meeting of the Council tomorrow will now instead consider an urgent motion from myself.”
Although the licensing issue has now come to an end following the surrender of the licences, Highland Council will still meet to consider the Convener’s motion relating to the handling of the case.
