Taxi Driver Online

Taxi blog post causes row at Dundee City Council licensing committee
A furious row has broken out over a blog post by a Dundee taxi driver.

Councillor Rod Wallace, who is also convener of the city council's licensing committee, issued a statement ahead of Thursday's licensing committee — clearly aimed at the majority SNP councillors — warning all members of their roles and responsibilities when dealing with quasi-judicial matters.

The SNP group reacted with ''disappointment and anger'' at the statement, with group leader Ken Guild saying the taxi driver in question is not an SNP office-bearer.

He accused Mr Wallace of playing party politics in the run-up to the election.

Mr Wallace's statement read: ''I have been made aware that comments have been posted on a national taxi website, which to my mind call into question the integrity and quasi-judicial workings of the licensing committee of this council.

''The posting makes reference to 'Dundee Taxi Association (DTA) and the Unite union having been in discussions with the SNP administration and agreement reached to work together to resolve the problems that a labour administration created.'

''At this stage I intend taking this posting seriously although I am aware that it may be just an idle wish or hope by the author.

''The unfortunate coincidence is that the author is a self-confessed political activist in Dundee. I have therefore discussed this with the depute chief executive (support services) and as a protection to all members of this committee I would remind them of their role and responsibilities when dealing with quasi-judicial matters such as the formulation of a new taxi licensing policy.

''In terms of the code of conduct, members must ensure that they are not subjected to any outside pressure or lobbying when forming an opinion on this crucial matter and any attempts by outside bodies or individuals to lobby members must be reported to the depute chief executive (support services) as the council's monitoring officer.

''The code also indicates that political group meetings should not be used to decide how individual councillors should vote in a quasi-judicial matter.''

Mr Wallace suggested the person in question was a ''loose cannon who should be fired.''

SNP councillor Stewart Hunter attempted to respond, but the convener refused him permission to speak, telling him it was not the correct forum, and suggested the SNP group leader had been supplied with a copy of his statement.

Mr Guild later told The Courier that Mr Wallace came to his office after the committee ended and gave him a copy of the statement ''out of courtesy''.

Mr Guild said: ''If that's his definition of courtesy then it is somewhat different from mine. Our four members on the committee have now written to him expressing their disappointment and anger at the tone and content of his statement — especially when the person who is blogging on this website is a member of the SNP, but holds no office within the group.

''He made some sort of suggestion that the person is a 'loose cannon who should be fired,' but he is not an office bearer in the SNP. I don't know what the person was referring to in the blog — I have better things to do with my time than read taxi drivers' blogs — but all I can say is that when I became leader of the administration I met with two out of the three taxi drivers groups and told them I couldn't deal with them while they were three disparate associations as there was no way we could get a clear policy.

''I certainly haven't had any involvement with any of them since 2009. Councillor Wallace has taken this one statement in a taxi blog and seems to be using it as an attack on the SNP.''

http://www.thecourier.co.uk/News/Dundee ... ittee.html

A blog, bloody cheek.


Ah that's better.

On a more serious note what the Chair is saying is valid, and that's the way licensing committees are meant to act, i.e. no whipping.

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IDFIMH

Why chairman Rod Wallace has taken umbrage is beyond me, the fact that the post he refers too on this forum, is a post, congratulating the licensing committee for taking the time to listen to the views of the taxi trade isn't this what a committee should be doing by listening to all sides of the trade and customers views alike, thereby being in charge off and having all the facts they are then in a position to make an informed judgement when dealing with matters pertaining to licensing?

After all the Standards commission have stated in a letter that they believe that licensing committee's should liaise with the trade and as long as they aren't discussing any individual licence then this is healthy for the trade and the committee's.

If Mr Wallace believes it isn't healthy to liaise with the trade then maybe he's in the wrong job and should consider standing down for someone who wishes to improve the trade and not ignore it.

Dundee City Councils Licensing department use to liaise with the trade but since 2009 know committee person attends and as stated above, as long as no individual license is discuss it isn't deemed to be classed as badgering the committee.

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Watch out curiosity killed the cat

Mr Wallace appears to be at odds with his Party's stated policy on interacting with Constituents.

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Don't dream it ~ Be it.

Well in view of what the chairman said (below) - which was supported by officials - then obviously it's a very murky area with no clear dividing line.

But I think stationtone's problem seems to be that he's placing too much emphasis on party politics.

The trade in Dundee have met in the past with Jim McGovern MP Dundee West Labour.

They have also met in the past with Joe Fitzpatrick MSP Dundee West SNP.

Unfortunately there isn't a representative for any other of the main parties and the licensing chairman has band anyone from the licensing committee from attending any liaison meetings, so what else can the trade do.


The trade also held a meeting in a social club in Dundee which they invited every councillor plus council legal advisers and the head of the city council to discuss matters pertaining to the access of taxis for the disabled and the infirm, also attending were groups representing these types of passengers, out of the 40 email's posted to Dundee City Council and MP's there were 12 replies, 2 councillors attended plus 1 MSP which I might add were all member belonging to the SNP party, if Mr Wallace wants to do the job he was appointed to do maybe he should attend more meeting like this, and attend the liaison meeting's to ascertain the needs of the public and trade he is meant to be residing over.

If no individual license is being discussed what is wrong with Mr Wallace getting round the table with the trade, in the past 20 years that is how the committee's in the past were informed by the trade but we have a chairman who doesn't want to listen to the trade, we maybe didn't get everything we asked for but at least we knew they were listening.

Mr Wallace should get over the fact that he lost the vote for wheelchair accross the board and start to do the job in hand if not move over for someone who will.

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Watch out curiosity killed the cat

THE COUNCILLORS’ CODE OF CONDUCT
SECTION 6: LOBBYING AND ACCESS TO COUNCILLORS

6.3 You may be lobbied by a wide range of people including individuals,
organisations, companies and developers. As a general rule, it is an essential
element of the democratic system that any individual should be able to lobby the
Council or a councillor. However, particular considerations apply when you are
dealing with applications under regulatory powers such as planning and with matters
of a quasi-judicial nature such as the determination of certain licence applications. If
you are lobbied on such matters you should make it clear that you are not in a
position to lend support for or against any such application that you will have a
responsibility for making a decision on in due course. Representations to councillors
on such applications should be directed, by the councillor, to the appropriate
department of the Council. This does not prevent you from seeking factual
information about the progress of the case.

I would like to make it clear that i have never had any cosy chats with any councillor on the licences committee about taxi policy or a individual licences but according to the councillors code i would not being doing anything wrong if i was SAOR ALBA

Yes, I was going to say the other night that I'd always thought that a committee's quasi-judicial function didn't extend to everything it did, for example it clearly would if a driver was being 'tried' for something naughty he'd done and faced losing his badge, whereas on the other hand if it relates to a policy issue affecting the whole trade then that presumably wouldn't be, er, quite so quasi-judicial.

But where precisely the dividing line lies is anyone's guess, and the extract from the code of conduct above doesn't really do much to clarify in that regard.

A good point Tone, however I still think there's a danger in linking such lobbying to party politics even assuming it doesn't strictly breach the code of conduct.

I suspect it depends if the driver has a direct appeal to the higher courts, other than on the 'fair and reasonable' basis.

And the particular issue at hand has a section in the act saying an appeal can be made to a higher court.

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IDFIMH

So basically that means just about everything apart from the chat about how nice the gypsy creams are and how cold the tea is?

Will Chairman Rod Wallace be tarred with the same brush?



Herald Scotland
Home > News > Home News
Council chief in online spy accounts row is suspended
Published on 11 February 2012

Stephen Naysmith

A COUNCIL media chief at the centre of a row over using "spy accounts" on social media websites to monitor critics of the local authority has been suspended and an investigation launched into her activities.

Yesterday local MSP Michael Russell, who is also the Education Secretary, reacted furiously to news of the covert operations and demanded a full independent inquiry.

Jo Smith, the communications manager with Argyll and Bute Council, revealed the tactic at a conference on how the public sector could make more use of sites such as Facebook.

She told fellow communications professionals the tactic had been used to join Facebook groups to find out what critics of the council were saying.

In a letter to the council's chief executive Sally Loudon, Mr Russell said: "I cannot remember being as angry. The thought that my constituents have been 'spied on' by a senior member of your staff is truly outrageous. And when I consider the likelihood that I was one of these people, then words almost fail me."

He called for disciplinary action if Ms Smith's tactics were confirmed and said a council internal inquiry would be in-sufficient. "There are significant issues under the data protection and standards legislation that will require consideration. There will need to be a full and open account given of all these 'spying' activities and information produced as to where the 'product' of this spying ended up. Who saw it or was told of it? Did senior officials and administration councillors have access to it?"

Mr Russell said there were serious concerns about the running of Argyll and Bute Council, and alleged that staff from within the administration had used fake identities to target opponents of the regime with "aggressive" comments on other websites.

He added: "There is something wrong in this administration that needs to be looked at closely. A council is supposed to serve the local community. There appears to be some sort of dirty tricks campaign, including members of that team within the council commenting on members of the council not in the administration in very aggressive fashion."

After Ms Smith's presentation in Glasgow, one communications professional said: "You may not like what taxpayers are saying about you online, but you can't pretend to be one of them in order to find out what they are saying. Other professional communicators in the room were very uncomfortable about it."

The council is run by a coalition of the 13-strong Alliance of Independent councillors plus six LibDems and two Tories.

Speaking to The Herald prior to her suspension, Ms Smith claimed her comments about "spy accounts" had been taken out of context and it had not been carried out on Argyll and Bute council's time. "It was about trying to create a separate account different from your normal one that you have holiday photographs on. 'Spy account' was shorthand for it being another identity, to take you into a place that you wouldn't be comfortable using your main account. I'm sure people do this all the time," she said.

Ms Smith refused to discuss what groups she had joined, adding: "My online activity in my private life is private. You separate the professional from the personal and keep those two things separate. That is why many people post and say 'this isn't my employers' opinion'. There are no rules here."

Last night the Argyll First group of independent councillors backed Mr Russell's call for an external inquiry. They said: "If it is true that council officers and administration councillors are spying on constituents and opposition councillors, heads must roll. Argyll First fully supports the calls."

A spokeswoman for Argyll and Bute Council said: "The council does not, nor ever would, condone the covert use of social media. A full investigation is underway and a member of staff has been suspended."

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Watch out curiosity killed the cat

If the cap fits