The Reiver
Fit to lead 2
Judging by the response to last month’s article, with a good number of you telling us how much you enjoyed those councillors, elected to represent us but serving themselves, I decided to give a few more an outing on our wall of shame.......(we’re gonna need a bigger wall....Ed)
Hic....see you...you’re my bestest mate you is....hic
We all make mistakes don't we? Like forgetting to slow down going into 30 mph zone, like forgetting to advise a council about a traffic offence or even forgetting where a speed camera is. Sometimes the human mind just isn’t with it. “To err is human” ......Robbie Burns said that and he should know – he’s Scottish (right GB?).
Well, some councillors are mere mortal too, one made the mistake of confusing ‘non alcoholic’ wine with ‘alcoholic’ wine and this mistake cost Bury Councillor Denise Bigg when she was convicted of being nearly 3 times over the drink driving limit during January. Witnesses told police they saw her driving her Honda Jazz 'erratically' along Bury New Road in Whitefield, near Bury, on November 12. At one point the car almost hit a central reservation near Hilton Lane. The witness told police the car was travelling at 10mph and 'swerving from side to side'. A second witness then saw the car veer 'wildly' to the right then left before mounting a pavement and driving along it for 10 car lengths.
It eventually stopped near Barnes Street and Councillor Bigg, who represents the Elton ward on Bury Council, got out and was 'stumbling' as she walked in the direction of a McDonald’s restaurant, the court heard.
She was fined £180 with £85 costs and banned from driving for 20 months......a pitiful amount really especially considering how much those pesky ‘cherrypickers’ are fined in Liverpool, guilty of driving a Honda Jazz would have sufficed!
Muddled Medway
A couple of councillors seem to have made the headlines in Medway in recent months, first of all Cllr Nick Brice, 64, was thrown out of the Medway Conservative party after being caught trying to pick up a prostitute in Rochester.
Foot in mouth
Cllr Ken Bamber, who also sits on Medway Council, was chatting with Brian Kelly, a Unison rep, when he made an Irish joke. The joke apparently upset Brian Kelly, who was born in Ireland, indeed Mr Kelly said Cllr Barber had used the word “Paddy” offensively and was being “racist with intent”.
He lodged an official complaint and took the matter to an employment tribunal, which referred the case to the conciliation service ACAS. Mr Kelly is believed to have been awarded several thousand pounds compensation, some from the council and some from Cllr Bamber.
I suppose Mr Kelly got the wrong end of the stick, or maybe it was a [edited by admin] joke.....talking of getting the wrong end of the stick, a similar thing apparently happened in North Tyneside in 2008 when a Tory councillor came up with a rather “over enthusiastic” suggestion for saving money on the cost of caring for children. Euthanasia! Although Councillor Hugh Jackson of Monkseaton North stated it was misplaced humour, this didn’t wash and he was subsequently forced to resign.
Pendle Borough councillor Smith Benson can’t be the sharpest knife in the cutlery set; he’s been partially suspended and told to issue a formal apology after he made racist comments at a public meeting in Lancashire. Apparently at a meeting of the Colne town centre regeneration forum last September, Mr Benson, a Conservative councillor, said: "The problem with Colne is that there are too many takeaways. And too many Pakis, that's why people don't come to Colne." Apparently the councillor failed to treat people with respect.
Depraved!
Former Sandwell Councillor Alan Burkitt found himself a rather bizarre way of earning a few extra quid to help out with those household bills. He put his girlfriend on the game. Burkitt, 48, of West Bromwich, West Midlands, admitted four counts of causing prostitution between November 2005 and February 2006. The court heard more than 20 men paid £50 for her services while Burkitt, an Independent member for Sandwell Council, sat in the room next door.
In August 2009 a disgraced former chairman of the Labour Party's Calder Valley branch, Mayor of Hebden Royd and councillor, Stewart Brown, walked free from court after admitting downloading 1,000 child porn pictures.
Stewart Brown also distributed 10 of the sick images. Some of the children were as young as four. Five of the pictures were rated level five – the most serious. Brown, 60, of Nutclough, Hebden Bridge, was given a nine-month suspended sentence. He said the shame of the case had pushed him to the brink of suicide. Brown had his sentence suspended for two years and will attend a sex offender's treatment programme and be put on the sex offender register.
In December 08 a leading councillor and former deputy mayor of Harrogate who sickeningly tried to groom a 13-year-old for sex in an internet chatroom was jailed for eight months. Shamed Morris Lightfoot, 56, a married dad-of-two, made vile suggestions to the girl named 'Tina,' pestered her to visit him so he could "abuse" her and sent her naked pictures of himself as he begged to take her virginity.
A Conservative councillor from the West Midlands who kissed a 16-year-old girl on the cheek and neck as they danced alone after a party has been ordered to register as a sex offender. Ian Hillas, who represents the Castle Bromwich ward on Solihull Council, was also ordered to pay £2,151 costs after admitting sexual assault at Wolverhampton Crown Court during January 2010. The 43-year-old was sentenced to a conditional discharge after changing his plea to guilty shortly before he was due to face a jury trial.
The former deputy leader of Solihull Council remained impassive in the dock as his barrister, Sarah Buckingham, said his life had been destroyed by a moment of "utter madness".
“I am not a crook!”
Errm well the judge thought differently Jezz.....he jailed you! Jezz “I am not a crook” Baker was convicted of one count of corruption under the Public Bodies Corruption Act 1889, and found not guilty of another at Winchester Crown Court in September, following jury deliberation lasting just over seven hours. Baker had accepted a £500 bribe in return for ensuring a planning application would go through. He was caught taking the money in January 2007 on a hidden camera.
In June 2009 a parish councillor who had almost £500,000 go through his bank accounts was jailed for benefit fraud. Disabled Geoffrey Bratt, aged 65, failed to declare substantial assets, two properties or his wife's income while receiving £5,971 in council tax exemptions.
In January 2010 a councillor was handed a two year ban. The Adjudication Panel for England announced that Anne Bishop, a former Isle of Wight Council and then serving Shanklin town councillor, had breached the codes of conduct for both bodies. The panel found she used her position to try to gain an advantage as the council considered her planning application to build flats at the Craven Court Hotel, Shanklin, which she owned.
In November 2008, a former North Devon District councillor Laurence Haydn-Higgins was spared jail. The ex-councillor fiddled his own authority out of £5,200 in benefits while jetting off on luxury foreign holidays. He was given a community order with a 300 hours unpaid work requirement. While he was operating the fraud Haydn-Higgins and his family went on luxury holidays costing over £10,000 to Tunisia, Turkey and the Dominican Republic. Then when he came back he pleaded poverty and made an application for a hardship payment.
“Vote Early, Vote Often”
In July 2008 ex-councillor Eshaq Khan found himself back in court after being charged with conspiracy to pervert the course of justice and perjury. The former Tory, 51 was charged by detectives in connection to the High Court Election Petition hearing at Slough Town Hall in February 2008 where Khan was found guilty of vote rigging in Slough's Central ward during the May 2007 elections.
Former Peterborough city councillor Abdul Razaq was found guilty of cheating his way to election victory by forging votes. Ex-Conservative Abdul Razaq received 5 months in jail in October 2008 after a jury convicted him of setting up a vote-rigging "production line" to guarantee success in the 2004 council elections.
Earlier in 2008, Mohammed Choudhary, Peterborough's first Asian mayor in 1997, was jailed for nine months after he was found guilty of forgery. Raja Akhtar, Peterborough's Mayor in 2004, was sentenced to three months.
Kung Fu!
In February 2010 a prominent Newquay councillor was reprimanded after stating he was going to punch a council officer (we know how he feels but we are a strictly pacifist publication). Town councillor Gary Redman was hauled before Cornwall Council's standards committee, accused of breaking the councillors' code of conduct – the third time in the past eight months. He admitted to saying he was going to punch monitoring officer Stephen Foster – a statement he made to council officer Diane Williams, in March last year at the Restormel Borough Council offices in St Austell.
Less than a week before Cllr Redman also claimed, at Newquay Town Council, Mr Foster "makes things up as he goes along" (he actually sounds like us now!). At the standards meeting held at the council chamber in St Austell, Mr Redman admitted to saying 'something like' the words quoted. The standards committee - made up of Rik Evans, Keltie Seaber and Colin Brewer, on Wednesday decided the allegations that Mr Redman had breached section 3.1 – 'you must treat others with respect' – had not been broken.
But sections 3.2b and 3.2c, which refer to bullying and intimidation, were investigated by the standards board.
Simon Mansell, from Cornwall Council said: "Due to Mr Redman's experience as a councillor, he could have gone down other avenues, like speaking to another council officer or the chief executive, to air his opinions about Mr Foster."
However, despite Cllr Redman's admission, the board found that section 3.2b, regarding bullying, could not be established and that section 3.2c was not broken, with Mr Evans stating: "The comments were inappropriate but not a breach." Cllr Redman was also found guilty at a standards hearing last year for allegedly offering to charge a group of residents £400 to represent them at a licensing hearing. He was cleared, after appealing the decision, last month.
In February 2010 Councillor Marc Cranfield-Adams, one of London's first “openly gay” borough mayors has been suspended amid accusations of bullying. Cranfield-Adams, 50, has been banned from meetings and is unable to undertake any official duties after a member of Richmond council staff made a series of complaints against him. The council's standards hearings sub-committee last week found he was guilty of bullying and failing to treat someone with respect — a breach of the members' code of conduct.
More depraved goings on from those wacky councillors next month!
Super Reiver goes ballistic Wirral are atrocious
Okay, I couldn’t help myself, I knew one day – if I was patient enough, I’d be able to use it and I’ve finally borrowed a favourite headline of someone else’s.
It would appear I owe a rather large apology to Wirral MBC. Last month I mentioned the library situation, which was heavily criticised by Sue Charteris the government inspector who criticised Wirral council for their lack of consultation on the library closures.
It has been drawn to my attention that Wirral globe did in November 2009 publish a story where (Wirral) Council leader Steve Foulkes rebuffed the report in a statement headed "Wirral not in breach of their Statutory Duty", hmmm that’s interesting, it’s not exactly the view of the government inspector, but its a view nonetheless. Talking of interesting, council leader Steve claimed allowances of £ 32230.56 during the period of 2008 / 2009; interestingly enough that’s almost the cost of a new taxi!
I am quite impressed with Wirral MBC, a quick Google will surely please all of you good folks on the Wirral, apparently they have a ‘forward plan’........No, it isn’t making everyone drive taxis! Of course, history has a long succession of plans, some range from the mad and some are of the window licking variety. Lord Kitchener and General Haig had plans, as did Adolf Hitler.
As you’ll be aware last month I quoted a chap from Peel Holdings, the £4.5 billion pound ‘winners’ of the Wirral waterfront scheme. The gentleman was making reference to Peel Holdings sponsoring a cushy trip to Shanghai for Wirral Council.....The quote being the admirable; “It is very easy to undermine or criticise, but I expect that to come from the mouths of those who have done nothing for Wirral, and have no concept of the lost word ‘vision’. This roughly translates to....if any of you dare question this £28K trip we won’t be happy!
Incidentally undermining and criticising are two of my favourite thing, but before I forget I have done f*ck all for ‘The Wirral’, which – according to some puts me on a par with what Wirral council has done for the cab trade, unless buying diesel from a Shell service station can be classed as doing something, in which case, I’ve possibly invested more?
I’ve been thinking about this lost word ‘vision’ for about three weeks and the vision I keep getting is......let me remind you..
I don't think taxitalk has ever had a headline such as “Wirral MBC supports totalitarian dictatorship” before, so I am obviously quite pleased to write the exclusive. But what of the guy in front of the tank?
......I personally think the person standing in front of a tank during the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 has lost something or he’s tread on some really sticky chewing gum......more seriously and I hope both Wirral Council and Peel Holdings are reading this, “vision” is a lost word isn’t it, it certainly is in China.....a vision of a democratic future, a vision of a free Tibet, a vision of people not telling me what my vision should be and not one of a council and their mates effectively telling me China is “cool” now lets do business.
Let me write the headlines of a forthcoming paper for you.......”Taxitalk dissent threatens investment?”
Incidentally......taxitalk have a few words too......”freedom of speech”...... (As well as they have bigger lawyers.....Ed).
The Wirral news stated the following in their article; “Wirral Council is sending officers out to Shanghai at a cost of £28,000, paid out of the Working Neighbourhoods Fund provided by central government to improve economic performance.”
Till next month....Your reiver....in a cell, beside a Chinaman with sticky feet.