THE SNP Highland group has suspended one of its councillors after he voted in favour of allowing a rapist taxi driver to keep his operator's licence.
Chris Birt was one of six male councillors who voted for David Brown to keep his taxi driving licence after he was jailed for raping an 18-year-old woman in a lay-by near a farm in the Highlands.
The four women members of the licensing committee opposed the decision.
The SNP group leader at Highland Council, Raymond Bremner, confirmed on Tuesday that Birt has been suspended.
When asked for comment on the decision, Bremner reportedly said: “The matter is subject to the group’s internal procedures and policies”
Birt had previously opposed Brown’s application, in January 2024, for a renewal of a taxi driver’s licence after learning of the criminal charges against him, that was suspended.
In a statement, Birt said: “My personal rules for my decisions in the committee are to ensure decisions are lawful, to apply justice fairly and, most importantly, to ensure the safety of the public, as far as this is possible.”
He added: “Our solicitor advised us that it is quite normal for the holders of operator licences not to drive taxis themselves but to employ others to do so.
“Accordingly, as this operator is in prison, he could not himself operate as a taxi driver, so his operator’s licence could remain valid until it expired for other taxi drivers to operate within it.”
The councillor, who represents Wester Ross, Strathpeffer and Lochalsh, said that Brown’s wife was the only other driver operating under the licence and had continued to earn a living as a taxi driver.
He said that it “seemed to me to be the most just way to proceed, allowing the wife to continue to support herself while offering no possible additional danger to the public”.
Birt added that he was “as disgusted by this criminal taxi driver’s crimes as anyone else”.
Brown was sentenced to six years and nine months at the High Court in Stirling earlier this year.
Police Scotland had objected to the operator's licence continuing in Brown's name.
It comes after the Liberal Democrat Group in the Highlands agreed to expel Caol and Mallaig councillor John Grafton “with immediate effect” at a meeting on Sunday for also voting in favour of Brown keeping the licence.
An online petition calling for Brown’s taxi operator’s licence to be revoked has almost 4000 signatures.
Rape and Sexual Abuse Service Highland (RASASH) chief executive Romy Rehfeld said the decision has had a detrimental effect on public confidence in how the local authority will make decisions regarding the safety of women and girls.
A Highland Council spokesperson said: “The licensing committee decision will now be referred to a future meeting of The Highland Council for further consideration by all members.”
