Taxi Driver Online

Don't think there's really much to see here as long as it's all above board. Who knows if it is, but certainly no smoking gun in this article

A 'provost' is basically the equivalent of a mayor in Scotland.

Tory mayors and taxi firms, eh?


Scots provost taxi driver’s firm picks up £3m in contacts from council he represents

https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scot ... i-25072241

Tory councillor Alan Brown insists he has not been involved in deals between East Dunbartonshire Council and the taxi partnership he works with

A provost is working as a taxi driver for a group that’s made millions of pounds from the council he represents.

Councillor Alan Brown was made provost of East Dunbartonshire Council in 2017 – since then his cab firm has had more than £3million of council contracts.

The Tory councillor is one of an estimated 20 drivers for East Dunbartonshire Taxi Operator and Drivers Association (EDTODA).

The cab partnership was set up to deal only with council contracts and members of the public can’t contact them.

The Sunday Mail can reveal that since 2017 – when Brown was made provost – EDTODA has seen its annual share of council contracts increase by 50 per cent.

Last year, the firm won £712,000 of the council’s £3million taxi contracts.

In 2016-17 its awards were £457,000 – a rise of more than £250,000 in the past five years.

Another 13 firms share the rest of the council awards.

Councillor Brown has denied any wrongdoing and said the contracts were negotiated without his help.

But sources say it’s left taxi firms who missed out on the lucrative work unhappy.

An insider said: “You see Councillor Brown going in and out of special needs schools dropping off kids.

“EDTODA is made up of black cab drivers who used to sit at the rank in Bishopbriggs at all hours.

"Now they are working much better hours for the council.

“The council work is a considerable amount of money and very appealing for other drivers who usually need to work around the clock.

“EDTODA drivers didn’t have the money worries other taxi drivers had during lockdown.

“Even when some drivers were giving up due to dire finances, the contracts kept ticking over for them.”

SNP councillor for Milngavie in East Dunbartonshire, Jim Gibbons, said: “The awarding of contracts is very thorough with the council awarding the best company to do the work.

“However, the size of the awards to EDTODA and size of increase is surprising.”

Covid has hit the taxi industry hard with many of Scotland’s 37,000 cab drivers quitting.

In 2020, union officials claimed some black cab drivers were working 12 hours a day for just £40.

The union Unite has called for each taxi driver to be given a £10,000 grant because of Covid.

Councillor Brown, who gets paid £27,000 a year as East Dunbartonshire Council’s civic head, said: “There’s 20 drivers working for EDTODA.

“The contracts are for transporting adults and children with special needs.

“The rise is just coincidence as far as I’m concerned. I don’t even see the paperwork.

“When I’m working as a councillor at meetings and the taxi industry gets brought up in official business I have to leave the room.

"The lowest price tendered gets the contract and I’m not involved in that.

“I take nothing to do with it deliberately. I get no money from the council, EDTODA gets money from the council and they pay me.

“The council changed the rules two or three years ago, which meant only licenced taxi drivers and firms could get contracts and that’s the reason our work has gone up.

“That was decided for public safety issues.”

The council said the contracts were for transporting vulnerable adults and children for its education and social care departments.

Council depute chief executive Ann Davie said: “The contract with EDTODA was let in the same way as other taxi contracts, following a procurement process.”

Not sure the fella has done anything wrong.

He is a driver that has got a school run in an open tender. Are we saying taxi drivers who are councillors can't do council contract work?

The contract that the firm he works on is one of fourteen firms that got contracts.

Looks like a load of jealous drivers who haven't got contracts are stirring the pot.

They need to get a f***ing life.

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IDFIMH

This is a bit more interesting than the earlier article, and someone here is obviously telling porkies.


Taxi-driving Scots provost ‘kicked out of meeting on new cab hire rules’

https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scot ... d-25338809

Alan Brown is said to have insisted he was only there as an “observer” – despite the group he works with being awarded millions of pounds of contracts since he took the flagship role.

A taxi-driving provost had to be kicked out of a public meeting on new cab hire rules over a conflict of interest, it has been claimed.

East Dunbartonshire Council’s provost Alan Brown is said to have insisted he was only there as an “observer” – despite the group he works with being awarded millions of pounds of contracts since he took the flagship role.

But insiders claim he was told being in the meeting was “hugely inappropriate” while officials thrashed out new rules for cabs and he was forced to leave by the authority’s chief lawyer

Last month we revealed EDTODA – the taxi association cabbie Brown is part of – had been awarded more than £3million in council contracts since he became provost in 2017.

Brown insisted he excused himself from all council meetings where taxi business was discussed.

But insiders said he had a blazing row with legal director Karen Donnelly at the public meeting when the council brought in taxi changes.

A source said: “This was a terrible miscalculation by Councillor Brown.

“It was embarrassing for everyone involved. It was a stand-up shouting row – he should never have been there.”

Brown, 57, isn’t a member of the Policy and Resource Committee, who consulted on changes to taxi rules between October 2018 and 2019.

The new rules tightened up requirements for drivers to work safely.

Brown said he couldn’t remember the incident.

He said: “It’s not against the rules for councillors to attend other committees.

“I can’t remember a meeting where the lawyer asked me to leave.”

East Dunbartonshire Council denied the row.

Depute chief executive Ann Davie said: “The chief solicitor and monitoring officer has not rowed with any councillor regarding attendance.”

However, she said it was “inappropriate” to say if Brown was asked to leave.

If the meeting wasn't a public meeting then the fella is out of order for being present.

Folks in positions of authority must not only be 100% pukka but must be seen by everyone to be 100% pukka.

Being in that closed meeting was a mistake, and he should apologise for it.

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IDFIMH

Why?

It's either a yes or a no.

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IDFIMH

I am not permitted to be in meetings where decisions are taken on taxi and private hire matters.

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Grandad,