16 June - Claim and counterclaim
I still don’t know for sure who is telling porkies down in Bexley Village. News
came in yesterday that the taxi office had been open for business until
mid-afternoon but it is equally possible that it was
just the owner going in and out as he is entitled to do. On the other hand there
are rumours that the drivers have been asked to report for work on Monday. Why
all this readiness to heap the dirt on one man? Has the name Campbell become so
toxic that it will always provoke opprobrium whether justified or not? Is the
son being penalized for the sins of the father?
Mark Campbell said at the planning meeting that he had permission to park on
nearby land but this is now said to be disputed by the owner. Similarly the plan
to erect an extra set of gates is reported to be fiction because there is an
established right of way at that point. Supposition or fact?
Ordinarily this subject would not make it on to these pages, it is here only because of
the suspicion that the deputy leader of Bexley council might have been planning to pull
strings. Who in their right mind would set up a business with high set up costs and
advertise for staff with no guarantee of getting permission to operate? Those suspicions
remain but there has been no other indication that they are justified. Councillor Colin
Campbell has been observed going in an out of the cab office but there has been
no hint of involvement at any other level. However a great deal of distrust has
manifested itself between the local business fraternity and the Campbell clan.
Clearly they are not popular and are being closely monitored for any
transgression from the straight and narrow.
Something where I feel I am on firmer ground is the claim to open anyway made at
the end of the planning meeting. I sought confirmation of it from one of my
colleagues immediately after it was said and while making my way home along Broadway
someone I had never met before was keen to be sure I had heard the promise to
open and repeated the relevant words.
I think it would be madness to open but then, like most people, I do not knowingly break the law. If Bexley Cabs really
does open for business it will speak volumes for the standards by which the
senior echelons of Bexley council operate. However the associated Twitter comment
is correct, it wasn’t Mark Campbell who said it but his alleged business
partner. Yesterday’s blog has been amended to make that point more clearly.