Licensing specialist Scott Blair has secured another success in a licensing appeal in an important decision from Sheriff Braid at Edinburgh Sheriff Court which has reiterated the importance of concise, comprehensive and clear reasons in licensing decisions. Scott acted for the successful appellant taxi driver who appealed a decision not to renew his licence. Although the appellant had a  recent conviction for careless driving arising from a collision with a child on a pedestrian crossing, that did not prevent Scott from arguing that the Council had failed to given sufficient reasons to support the view that the appellant was no longer a fit and proper person to hold a licence.   Sheriff Braid agreed with Scott that the reasons given failed to provide any evaluation of the considerations which the Council purported to rely on or in what way it balanced the seriousness of the offence against the previous good record of the appellant. To read the judgment in Black v Midlothian Council  click here