Comment posted Legal victory by Garelochhead Minibuses and Coaches forces council to retender school transport contract by Integrity? Not in the ConDemAll.
Trident Taxis eh… remind me whose purse that cash falls into in the end!
Integrity? Not in the ConDemAll also commented
- 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!
Recent comments by Integrity? Not in the ConDemAll
- Russell to make parliamentary statement on rural schools today
To my knowledge nobody is judging parents for their choices but isn’t it wonderful that they still have that choice?ARSN has gone on record many times to say that they are not blanket opposed to school closures, just opposed to closures which do not provide an educational benefit and which are progressed without the interests of the children at their root.
Parents and grand parents will always put what they believe their children’s best interests are first (and rightly so) and it was one of many insulting slurs made by ABC during the closures issue that this was not the case.
Luss is a prime example of a school with a small number of pupils in a small number of classes which thrives educationally, and there are no signs that its pupils are suffering form the issues you mention Islay (however that doesn’t mean it might not be an issue elsewhere). Didn’t stop ABC insinuating that rural schools can produce ‘socially dysfunctional’ children.
- Russell to make parliamentary statement on rural schools today
My reference to Helensburgh appears to have sparked something it was never meant to spark.It was a source of frustration for ARSN that the argument was constantly put forward that rural schools, and rural children, were somehow overly privileged, yet the lack of other council services in rural areas conveniently ignored.
However none of us would have ever entertained the idea of turning the table and, for example, advocating closing or amalgamating urban schools, even if the proposal could have been put forward using the same flawed arguments as ABC used to close the rural ones.
Tim is right to say that ARSN wasn’t political. There were a few blinkered individuals on here who, as soon as an ARSN member supported local schools, instantly assumed we were Mike Russell’s sheep however it was normally by people with a limited understanding of the issue at hand.
Anne is right to say that Helensburgh need to join in, and she knows full well that so do Dunoon, Oban, Luss, Barcaldine etc etc – all she was doing was responding to my reference to Helensburgh (which I made purely because it was the urban area I am most associated with). It was not the demonisation of an area but a call for us to cast off these stupid idea that rural and urban areas can’t work in co-operation with each other.
- Russell to make parliamentary statement on rural schools today
JohnI certainly hope you are right about urban and rural communities not turning on each other. During the previous schools campaign it was staggering how many Helensburgh people were adamant the schools should close (often without ever having bothered to even read the reports or make any effort to ascertain any facts).
The tired, somewhat idiotic, and entirely incorrect argument about rural children getting a private school education and the even more ridiculous one about rural communities bleeding the urban ones of funds was trotted out time and time again.
- UK National Lottery Good Causes in Scotland
AngusApologies for slight rounding as I don’t have exact figures to hand but doesn’t that mean funding has been awarded at about the same % as the population spread?
- Proposal for independent Scotland to share UK welfare system admin to 2020+
Citizen’s Income is designed to provide a guaranteed minimum income for all. It replaces the current ‘portfolio’ of benefit payments and is a tax-free payment. It is basically an unconditional hand out (i.e. not means tested in any way). I think the idea is that it would be tied to the personal allowance amount meaning that everyone earns that and then every penny you make through employment is fully subject to PAYE (rather than you having the personal allowance taking out of your income.It has been pushed hard by the Green Party who see it as a way of getting people out of poverty and reducing benefit fraud.
At face value it does seem a extraordinarily expensive venture however you do need to consider how much money would also be saved in eradicating the need for the extraordinarily complex benefit scheme currently operating in the UK.
One of the weaker arguments put forward is that it allows greater flexibility for people to opt in or out of the labour market. I am not convinced that is a flexibility that it is healthy to actively encourage.
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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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