Cllr Phil Davies threatens to “terminate” taxi contract following Conservative concerns about missing medical and criminal background checks
Cllr Phil Davies threatens to “terminate” taxi contract following Conservative concerns about missing medical and criminal background checks on drivers
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These don’t include taxi journeys where councillors have paid for the taxi themselves and then claimed back the cost.
Sadly, due to a lot of missing pages (curiously always the ones with councillors’ names on them), plus a number of pages scanned at such low quality making them very difficult to read, I’ve requested an internal review.
There was an £85 taxi journey listed on page 5. By the price list published on my blog here it comes to a taxi journey of around 67 and a half miles.
Sadly the second page of the invoice that invoice from May 2015 that would state who undertook this unusually long journey is not supplied. The invoice itself is of such low quality it’s hard to read how far this journey was. However if you’re going on a journey that far why not take the train instead?
In fact if the journey was by a councillor then Wirral Council’s constitution states (members means councillors):
“8. Travel and Subsistence
Travel Costs
8.1 Travel costs incurred by members in performing “approved duties” as specified in Schedule 2 to this Scheme shall be reimbursed at the prevailing public transport rates, provided that the use of taxis or members’ private motor vehicles may be permitted where public transport is either not available, or the journey by public transport would be likely to result in unreasonable delay.”
Sadly as Wirral Council didn’t respond properly to this FOI request it’s impossible to tell whether a councillor took this journey or not!
However over the 6 months of invoices where names were supplied, here are how many taxi journeys were undertaken by each councillor at the taxpayers’ expense. For shared journeys I’ve counted it as one journey for each councillor sharing the taxi:
Cllr Moira McLaughlin (38) Cllr Steve Niblock (23) Cllr Bill Davies (13) Cllr Irene Williams (5) Cllr Pat Williams (2) Cllr Kathy Hodson (1) Cllr Denise Roberts (1) Cllr Phil Davies (1)
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How much did taxis cost for councillors at Wirral Council through a contract with Eye Cab Limited between September 2014 and March 2015?
How much did taxis cost for councillors at Wirral Council through a contract with Eye Cab Limited between September 2014 and March 2015?
Eye Cab Ltd taxi invoice Wirral Council October 2014
During the 2014/15 audit I requested the contract between Wirral Council and Eye Cab Limited for LOT 4 (councillors taxis) called the Passenger Transport Contract. This is what the contract states about the invoices (pages 22 to 23):
2.3.8 Invoicing
Invoices should be submitted once a month for all journeys undertaken by Councillors for official business only. There will be no payment in advance for journeys. The invoice should contain the following information
Journey collection and arrival destinations
Date and time of journey
Name of the Councillor ordering the journey
Invoices will be paid at the price agreed between Wirral Council and the Contractor at the time of award of contract. If an overcharge is identified on an invoice a credit note will be required from the Contractor or a deduction for the amount owed clearly identified on the following invoice.
Invoices should be forwarded to:-
Carl Thompson
Legal and Member Services
Wallasey Town Hall
Brighton Street
CH44 8ED
The invoices supplied don’t contain the times of journeys, or the journey collection or arrival destinations!
Wirral Council have also tried to black things out on these invoices (incompetently I might add with an image mask) because they class them as personal data.
All the underlying images of the invoices are still there as they’re using an image mask (that is the file contains two images that of the underlying invoice and over the top a further image used as a mask to black certain bits out).
Let’s start with the junior officer name at Wirral Council they blacked out which is Thompson, Carl S. [carlthompson@wirral.gov.uk].
Here’s the mobile phone number from this invoice: 0798 944 6652. I might point out that Eye Cab Limited publish this mobile phone number on their Facebook group page anyway.
Below are the totals by councillor for each invoice. The below are just journeys through this contract. It is possible for councillors to pay for taxi journeys themselves, then claim the money back from Wirral Council, in which case those figures would not be included below.
Invoice dated 27th September 2014 (LOT4/2)
CouncillorTotal Amount
Pat Hackett £5.20 Ron Abbey £43.40 Steve Niblock £9.40 Moira McLaughlin £42.80 Irene Williams £8.00
Invoice dated 4th October 2014 (LOT4/2)
CouncillorTotal Amount
Ron Abbey £56.60 Moira McLaughlin £16.00 Bill Davies £6.60
Invoice dated 4th October 2014 (LOT4/3)
CouncillorTotal Amount
Ron Abbey £34.00 Moira McLaughlin £31.00
Invoice dated 11th October 2014 (LOT4/5)
CouncillorTotal Amount
Moira McLaughlin £26.80 Ron Abbey £71.60 Bill Davies £6.60
Invoice dated 18th October 2014 (LOT4/6)
CouncillorTotal Amount
Moira McLaughlin £26.80 Pat Hackett £5.20 Ron Abbey £51.00
Invoice dated 24th October 2014 (LOT4/7)
CouncillorTotal Amount
Ron Abbey £76.00 Moira McLaughlin £31.50 Bill Davies £6.60 Muspratt £10.80 Pat Hackett £5.20
Invoice dated 31st October 2014 (LOT4/8)
CouncillorTotal Amount
Pat Hackett £5.20 Moira McLaughlin £18.80 Ron Abbey £71.00 *for two journeys includes waiting time of 5 minutes (£1) and 10 minutes (£2)
Invoice dated 8th November 2014 (LOT4/9)
CouncillorTotal Amount
Pat Hackett £15.60 Muspratt £12.20 Moira McLaughlin £33.40 Bill Davies £6.60 Niblock/Davies £10.80 Irene Williams £8.00 Ron Abbey £51.00
Invoice dated 15th November 2014 (LOT4/10)
CouncillorTotal Amount
Irene Williams £17.40 Pat Hackett £19.40 Steve Niblock £28.20 Bill Davies (down on invoice as W J Davies) £13.20 Moira McLaughlin £9.40
Invoice dated 22nd November 2014 (LOT4/11)
CouncillorTotal Amount
Steve Niblock (down on invoice as S. Niblock) £28.20 Moira McLaughlin £40.40 Bill Davies (down on invoice as W J Davies) £6.60 Irene Williams (down on invoice as I. Williams) £8.00 Muspratt (down on invoice as C. Muspratt) £12.20 Pat Hackett (down on invoice as P. Hackett) £11.80
Invoice dated 29th November 2014 (LOT4/12)
CouncillorTotal Amount
Moira McLaughlin £18.80
Invoice dated 6th December 2014 (LOT4/13)
CouncillorTotal Amount
Moira McLaughlin £9.40 Steve Niblock (down on invoice as Steve Nibkock) £37.60
Invoice dated 13th December 2014 (LOT4/14)
CouncillorTotal Amount
Steve Niblock (down on invoice as Steve Nibkock) £49.80 Moira McLaughlin (down on invoice as Moira McGlaughlin) £18.80 Bill Davies £13.20 Muspratt (down on invoice as Clr Muspratt) £12.20 Taxi Share £12.20
Invoice dated 20th December 2014 (LOT4/15)
CouncillorTotal Amount
Steve Niblock (down on invoice as Steve Nibkock) £59.20 Muspratt (down on invoice as Clr Muspratt) £12.20 Denise Realey (down on invoice as Denise Reaty) £8.00 Pat Hackett £11.80 Moira McLaughlin (down on invoice as Moira McGlaughlin) £10.80 Irene Williams £8.00
Invoice dated 10th January 2015 (LOT4/16)
CouncillorTotal Amount
Pat Hackett (down on invoice as P. Hackett) £11.80 Moira McLaughlin £79.40 Bill Davies £16.00
Invoice dated 17th January 2015 (LOT4/17)
CouncillorTotal Amount
Pat Hackett (down on invoice as P.Hackett) £9.40 Moira McLaughlin £28.20
Invoice dated 24th January 2015 (LOT4/18)
CouncillorTotal Amount
Irene Williams £8.00 Bill Davies £6.60 Moira McLaughlin £9.40 Niblock/Davies £12.20
Invoice dated 31st January 2015 (LOT4/19)
CouncillorTotal Amount
Steve Niblock £10.80 Bill Davies £6.60 Moira McLaughlin £28.20
Invoice dated 7th February 2015 (LOT4/20)
CouncillorTotal Amount
Steve Niblock £31.00 Moira McLaughlin £73.80 Williams/Muspratt £12.20 Irene Williams £9.40
Invoice dated 14th February 2015 (LOT4/21)
CouncillorTotal Amount
Moira McLaughlin £9.40 Steve Niblock £9.40
Invoice dated 21st February 2015 (LOT4/22)
CouncillorTotal Amount
Bill Davies £19.80 Irene Williams £8.00 Moira McLaughlin £9.40 Davies/McLaughlin £10.80
Invoice dated 28th February 2015 (LOT4/23)>
CouncillorTotal Amount
Moira McLaughlin £18.80 Bill Davies £18.40
Invoice dated 7th March 2015 (LOT4/24)
CouncillorTotal Amount
Moira McLaughlin £59.20
Invoice dated 21st March 2015 (LOT4/25)
CouncillorTotal Amount
Moira McLaughlin £28.20 Bill Davies £13.20 Irene Williams £8.00 Niblock/Davies £12.20
Cllr Muspratt (does not include Williams/Muspratt) £10.80 + £12.20 + £12.20 + £12.20 + £12.20 = £59.60
Cllrs Niblock/Davies (note not included in Cllr Steve Niblock’s amounts above and there are three councillors with the surname Davies) £10.80 + £12.20 = £23.00
Taxi Share£12.20
Cllr Denise Realey£8.00
Cllrs Williams/Muspratt (note not included in Cllr Muspratt’s amounts above and there are three councillors with the surname Williams) £12.20
Cllrs Davies/McLaughlin (note not included in Cllr McLaughlin’s amounts above and there are three councillors with the surname Davies) £10.80
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Wirral Council consult on £1.1 million scheme to change Birkenhead’s Hamilton Square
Wirral Council consult on £1.1 million scheme to change Birkenhead’s Hamilton Square
Remembrance Day 2012 outside Birkenhead Town Hall. If the traffic scheme goes ahead then this area outside Birkenhead Town Hall won’t be solely for pedestrians but will be open to two-way road traffic
The removal of the taxi rank outside Hamilton Square train station in Hamilton Street. The reason would be so there could be a puffin crossing outside Hamilton Square train station. This taxi rank would be relocated to two sections of Bridge Street (one for four taxis, one for five taxis).
A bus stop in Bridge Street would be relocated to Hamilton Street.
The existing bus stop outside Hamilton Square train station would be moved further down Hamilton Street.
The area in front of Birkenhead Town Hall which is now closed to road traffic, solely for pedestrians and protected by bollards would become part of the road and open to traffic.
The mini roundabout at the Hamilton Square/Hamilton Street junction (to the North-East of Birkenhead Town Hall) would be removed and replaced with a Give Way junction instead.
The mini roundabout at the Hamilton Square/Hamilton Street junction (to the South-West of Birkenhead Town Hall) would be removed and replaced with a Give Way junction.
The closure at this junction which prevents traffic going to Hamilton Square from the South-West along Hamilton Street would be removed.
Hinson Street (now one-way) would be made two-way between Hamilton Street and Henry Street.
Hamilton Street (now one-way between Hamilton Square and Conway Street) would be made two-way between Hamilton Square and Conway Street.
Conway Street will be closed at its junction with William Street.
Alterations to the traffic signals at the Bridge Street/Hamilton Street junction.
The deadline to respond to this consultation is Friday 13th November 2015.
Then enter your contact details and email address (twice).
Click Next again.
The Scheme name/details to enter on the next page are “Hamilton Square re-design“.
The Scheme number is “DC-STEP-1516-2”
If you wish to comment or ask a question on the scheme select Comment/ask a question about the scheme from the drop down menu.
If you wish to object to the scheme select Object to the scheme and enter your reasons in the box below.
If you wish to do both select All of the above and enter your comments and objections separately.
Then click Next, followed by Submit.
There was a drop in session on Tuesday November 10th 2015 at Birkenhead Town Hall, Hamilton St, Birkenhead CH41 5EU, between 3pm and 7pm so people could view the plans.
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Below are ten more A4 pages of expense claims submitted by councillors on Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority for the 2014/15 financial year. It’s pages twenty-one to thirty of eighty-nine pages and each thumbnail below should link to a more high-definition (and therefore readable) image for each page.
The councillors these pages are for are Cllr Dave Hanratty, Cllr Leslie Byrom, Cllr Linda Maloney and Cllr Ted Grannell.
HQ stand for headquarters, LGA means Local Government Association, FIG (also known as FIGUK) means Fire Information Group and I’ve no idea what SRB refers to.
Cllr Dave Hanratty October November 2014 car mileage taxis page 1 of 2Cllr Dave Hanratty taxi receipt £13 page 2 of 2Cllr Leslie Byrom October 2014 car mileage taxi trainCllr Leslie Byrom Virgin Trains receipt £8 page 1 of 3Cllr Leslie Byrom Virgin Trains receipt £12 page 2 of 3Cllr Leslie Byrom receipt taxi £20 page 3 of 3Cllr Linda Maloney October November 2014 car mileage taxis and meal page 1 of 3Cllr Linda Maloney taxi receipt £23 page 2 of 3Cllr Linda Maloney Jacques Wine Bar receipt £12.50 page 3 of 3Cllr Ted Grannell taxi September to November 2014 £63
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