Comment posted Legal victory by Garelochhead Minibuses and Coaches forces council to retender school transport contract by Nigel Macleod.
I assume Sally Louden’s resignation letter is already written , after she has dismissed the council’s legal team.
Hardly a week goes by without another revelation of the Council’s incompetence.
Recent comments by Nigel Macleod
- ‘Unanswerable’ now an understatement on Port Askaig ferry share case
The relative weight capacities are
Hebridean Isles & Lord of the Isles (LOTI) – 200tons
Isle of Arran – 240tons
Finlaggan – 480tons
LOTI has the additional handicap of restricted height on her car deck because she was the last vessel built for the Outer Isles service with overnight cabins available for passengers so all the weight capacity might not be usable. - Progress on addressing A82 Pulpit Rock problems
Another contract awarded to a company headquartered outside Scotland. So much for shovel-ready contracts benefitting the Scottish economy. - Scottish Ferry Services Plan 2013-2022 published
Fair comments in the two replies above. However , how many times have the vessels had to divert to Port Askaig since Port Ellen reopened – plenty according to Calmac’s service status. Also , I wonder what the Ileachs views would be if RET had been applied logically and higher fares charged on Kennacraig-P.Ellen compared to Kennacraig-P,Askaig , as the distance sailed is greater.
My earlier reference to Mundells was that , at least a few years ago , hauliers could not simply leave loaded CLVs lying about the country , so the environment would suffer by having HGVs running around Islay , never mind the road surfaces. - Scottish Ferry Services Plan 2013-2022 published
The final ferries plan is much,much better than the abomination of a draft plan published in Dec 2011 , and is possibly achievable on a limited budget if ministers rein in CMAL’s habit of spending money for the sake of it. I agree that most communities have got want they expressed a preference for , the exceptions seem to be
1) Mallaig-Lochboisdale
2) Lismore – the infrastructure and public subsidy for transport links seem unafforadable and unsuitable for a sole link to Port Appin.
3) Using Port Askaig as the main ferry port on Islay. Pot Ellen is too weather-dependant ; unsuitable for Jura residents and futher away from Mundell’s yard. - EC President’s ruling on membership not a real issue
Well said newsroom. An independent Scotland will need to reapply , but an application would be fast-tracked unless either Spain or Belgium objected.
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A&BC incompetent from a legal and compliance perspective. Surely not!
Once again we find ourselves asking if the Council will now take the appropriate action against the officers who have just wasted a further wad of public money which they then try and save by reducing services.
Note it is not also Garelochhead Coaches that lose out here. Assuming McColl coaches were not complicit in the action taken by the Council they are now in a position where they might have resourced up for a contract that has been terminated early.
There was another example of this in a different Scottish Council (although not nearly as bad as A&B’s failings) and the Council in question had to bascially pay two contracts. One to the the supplier they awarded it to and the other to the bidder who protested.
If A&B want procurement procedures written for them I can provide them for a small % of the £100,000 they have just blown!
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Well done to Mr McQueen, not just for winning, but for making a stand.
Is there anyone actually surprised at this outcome? I would geniunely like to know.
Incompetence at this Council has now reached a ridiculous level. Time for a clearout of Councillors and Senior Inept personnel.
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The whole situation becomes further complicated by the fact that the original tender required a percentage of the work to be sub contracted by the primary contractor through the Scottish Government procurement portal, consequently McColl’s awarded contracts to Brian’s Taxis of Rosneath and Trident Taxis of Helensburgh, although the exact ‘lots’ awarded to each was not specified.
There also appeared to be some initial confusion as to the contract value, the first notice from the council gave the value as 9745960 before a second notice appeared with the value of 2436490.
The scale of the original contract meant that it was very likely to go to a non local operator, it would require either a considerable expansion or a lot of time spent organising sub contracts for the locals, plus I think there was supposed to be a dedicated contact point for schools and parents.
On a final point I guess it cannot all be bad between Argyll & Bute and Garelochhead Coaches as they have just awarded them the contract for the services on Jura.
Having now looked at the supporting documents I think forargyll is a little remiss for revealing e-mail addresses in this way and the message isn’t such a ‘hatchet job’ as it is purported to be, although on one note the testing station mentioned at McColl’s premises has still to be completed.
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Trident Taxis eh… remind me whose purse that cash falls into in the end!
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Just what I was going to ask!
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We have figures – in relation to the above case – to show that Trident Taxis earned about £35k’s worth of council business last year in school transport sub contracts.
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Ellen Morton…Education Spokesperson…School’s Contract…McColl’s Buses…Trident Taxis
Join the dots people. Conflict of interest?
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I understand the link with Trident Taxi’s, please explain the link with McColl’s
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The Contract went to McColl’s buses, who have sub-contracted Trident
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We understand that Garelochhead Buses have also subcontracted Trident Taxis – a default choice?
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Quite probably they have done in past years, but has the amount they have subcontracted gone up, down or stayed the same?
Would that info need to be FOI’d?
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Does anyone know why a successful litigant in this type of case cannot be awarded more than 80% of their own costs? What kind of justice is that?
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I assume Sally Louden’s resignation letter is already written , after she has dismissed the council’s legal team.
Hardly a week goes by without another revelation of the Council’s incompetence.
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She’ll be hanging on in there until the death Nigel. She has nowhere to go now. Both she and Sneddon are regarded as toxic by other Local Authorities and Argyll & Bute Council is the laughing stock of Scotland – yet again.
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A new can of worms eh!
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When is the Anchor Bar in Garelochhead going to loose it’ s license over the head of this or even worse when are the Shades of Hades of our glorious Council going to impose their interpretation of the rules and come down on McQueen ?
I hope that the word Pyrric Victory do not prevail !!!
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While the injured party in this case is certainly to be congratulated in pursuing this case to the final barrier, would it be possible to discover how many other instances there have been in recent years where the Council have been successfully challenged in their decisions and what that has cost the people of Argyll & Bute in terms of time, justice and cash? I suspect that it is a common gambit to hold out against injured parties on the premise that few have the finance, the time, the access to legal opinion that the Council uses with such abandon.
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And apparently even if they win their case they’ve got no redress for at least 20% of their costs, so any challenger is fighting with one hand tied behind their back.
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Re the recovery of a successful litigants cost:
Now can you see why I think we must explore a national legal service?
The strain of pursuing a case is intolerable. The system is designed to put individuals off.
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well done any chance you can come and sort out north lanarkshire council who are upto the same tricks via spt
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THE operator of a publicly funded ferry service on the Clyde Estuary could face criminal charges for employing crew that were not adequately trained, The Herald has learned.
The Maritime & Coastguard Agency (MCA) is considering whether to bring a prosecution against Clydelink after an investigation revealed the skipper of the Island Princess, which plies the Kilcreggan to Gourock route, was not qualified to be in charge of a vessel carrying more than 12 passengers.
The incident will heap further pressure on Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (SPT) to find a replacement operator – and justify the procurement process which led to Clydelink taking over the service on April 1.
After three days of being restricted to carrying no more than 12 passengers – leaving dozens stranded or facing lengthy replacement bus detours – the ferry returned to its normal seating capacity of 75 yesterday.
The MCA said the vessel’s skipper had undergone training earlier in the week and had received the required certificate on Thursday after being tested by an MCA examiner.
However, a spokesman said the MCA was now considering whether to bring charges over the incident.
He said: “[Clydelink] could be liable to prosecution. This is being looked at.”
The award of the ferry contract to Clydelink has saved more than £200,000 in annual subsidies for SPT, a council-run transport body, largely due to axeing the Helensburgh stop.
Prior to taking over, the firm had promised to invest in a new 60-seat vessel, but eventually bought a 16-year-old vessel, the Island Princess.
Local politicians said there now appeared to be clear grounds for terminating the contract with Clydelink and called on SPT to consider finding a replacement operator.
Guidance notes produced by SPT in October 2011, before the contract was signed, advised that it could be terminated “unless otherwise determined by SPT” for a number of grounds, including if “any person employed by the operator does not have a valid qualification or licence as required for the nature of the contract or the type of vessel used”.
Stuart McMillan, SNP MSP for the West of Scotland, said: “There may well be reasons for the contract to be terminated.”
Jackie Baillie, the Labour MSP for Dumbarton, is due to meet SPT’s chief executive Gordon Maclennan on Wednesday, with Greenock and Inverclyde MSP Duncan McNeil, to raise concerns over the service.
Ms Baillie said: “If this company can’t deliver a service – and the early evidence would suggest it can’t – then the contract should be stopped and re-tendered.”
Around 30% of sailings have not met contractual terms since April 1 due to breakdowns, weather or MCA restrictions. It is thought that evidence the ferry has been operated illegally would make it harder for SPT to continue with Clydelink.
A spokeswoman for the transport body said: “SPT constantly monitor patronage of all supported services to ensure that scarce financial resources are used where they are most required.”
Clydelink was not available to discuss whether it would face criminal charges.
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It will be great to see Kids get taken to school in nice safe coaches again! Not ex-Stagecoach buses that have been scrapped by Stagecoach! The clue is in the word “SCRAPPED”! Not fit for the road?? Lights out?? Black smoke?? Lack of uniformed drivers?? Drivers that smoke??
Seem to see lots of that with current operator Mccolls!
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