Four councillors who voted to allow a rapist taxi driver to keep his operator’s licence have quit Highland Council’s licensing committee.
David Brown, 50, was jailed for six years and nine months in May after attacking an 18-year-old female passenger in December 2023.
Last month, following a request from Brown’s family, the committee’s six male councillors voted to allow his operator’s licence to continue, while its four female councillors voted against it.
After criticism of the decision, the chairman Sean Kennedy along with John Grafton, Duncan Macpherson and Willie MacKay have resigned from the committee.
Independent councillor MacKay has also resigned as a councillor, while Grafton has been suspended by the Scottish Liberal Democrat group on Highland Council.
Kennedy was an Independent councillor.
SNP councillor Chris Birt, another one of the six male councillors, has been asked by his party’s leader on the council, Raymond Bremner, to resign from the committee.
Brown’s taxi driver’s licence – which allows him to drive – had been suspended in January 2024 after details of his offences emerged.
His separate operator’s licence allows his vehicle to be used as a taxi business.
