Boro Cars taxi boss Mohammed Bashir speaks out on Ray Mallon
April 23 2011
The boss of Boro Cars today defended secretly recording hours of conversations with Middlesbrough mayor Ray Mallon which led to the sex slur storm.
And Mohammed Bashir says he doesn’t think Mr Mallon is “fit for high office.”
Mr Bashir says he made the covert recordings in order to protect his business and hundreds of employees during an ongoing feud between Middlesbrough Council and Boro Cars.
During their conversations, Mr Mallon referred to a council officer and used a sexual analogy in relation to the worker which he has now described as saying that “the officer was so straight that if they had sex it would be in one position”.
The mayor has apologised for the remark. However, Mr Bashir believes it has been misquoted, claiming: “He was not explaining his officers were straight.”
In a statement to the Gazette, Mr Bashir said: “A decision was made to record Ray Mallon in order to protect the company against misinterpretation and so that there could be no challenge to what we said.
“The recordings were only released after Mallon decided to publicly discredit myself and my company following the recent court case.”
The feud between Boro Cars and Middlesbrough Council has rumbled on for two years. It has its roots in a disagreement between Boro Cars and a group of Hackney Carriage drivers over access to the Morrisons supermarket site at Berwick Hills. The council also became embroiled in the dispute.
Since then, Boro Cars and the council have been involved in a long-running battle over taxi issues in the town.
In a recent court case, Boro Cars unsuccessfully sought to appeal against the council’s actions against one of its private hire drivers who parked in a Hackney rank in Wilson Street.
Yesterday Mr Mallon described his one time friend Mr Bashir as being “obsessed” with the issue.
But the Boro Cars boss hit back: “Far from being obsessed, as is the opinion of Mr Mallon, I have a determination that matters are fair for all taxi drivers in the town and I also have a duty to protect my business and the livelihoods of hundreds of people who work at Boro Cars.
“Boro Cars previously had an excellent working relationship with the council until we put our head above the parapet in an attempt to ensure the whole taxi trade is regulated equally.
“I have not engaged in a campaign to stop Mr Mallon from becoming the mayor as that is for the public to decide. However I can confirm that personally, I do not consider him fit for high office.”
Mayor showed ‘lack of judgment’
The sexual slur incident is a resigning matter, says Chris Foote-Wood, the Liberal Democrat candidate in the May 5 Mayoral poll.
Mr Foote-Wood said that in his view, Mr Mallon had made serious errors of judgment in the past nine years, including on the plans for Gresham.
“He accuses Mr Bashir of being obsessed, but admits to spending 10 hours a week on this one issue alone. No issue involving one individual should take up so much of the mayor’s time. This shows a complete lack of judgment on Mr Mallon’s part. Private telephone calls, hours long in the early hours of the morning are no way to run a council.
“As for Mr Mallon’s disgusting and unacceptable remarks about a wholly innocent council official - his remarks are completely beyond the pale and should not have been made in public or in private by anyone holding a responsible position such as an elected mayor. An apology six month later is too little too late. This is a resigning matter.”
Lloyd Cole-Nolan, the Conservative mayoral candidate, wants people in Middlesbrough to have their say on Mr Mallon’s conduct at the ballot box.
“I want the people of Middlesbrough to send him a message that this sort of behaviour is unacceptable,” he said. “I don’t want him to quit or run away, I want the people of Middlesbrough to have a say.”
The other mayoral candidate, Labour’s Michael J Carr, was unavailable for comment earlier today. But he has been quoted as saying it’s up to Mr Mallon whether he stands or not as “the people will decide for themselves.”
Let public judge me - Middlesbrough mayor
Ray Mallon says the public will be the judge on whether he continues as Middlesbrough mayor.
Mr Mallon has unreservedly apologised for a sexual slur he made against a council officer during a private conversation with Boro Cars boss Mohammed Bashir, which was secretly recorded.
Mr Mallon issued his apology yesterday at a town hall press conference. The taped conversations were about the town’s taxi trade and the council’s taxi licensing regime.
He told the Gazette: “Even though I am very disappointed at the position before me, I am comfortable in the knowledge I have been straight with the public. It is now a matter for them.”
He said at first he considered resigning. “But I then reflected on the situation and concluded it would not be right to resign.”
He said the tape was of a private conversation “where I was trying to defend an officer and I used an analogy to get my point across.”
Source; http://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/teess ... -28571906/
Click on the above link to see a 7 minute video of Mayor Ray Mallon's statement to the press.
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