18 June (Part 3) - Opening anyway
I
don’t know if you’ve noticed but Bexley Cabs have been
busy rebutting everything
said about them here. When it was reported that there was a promise to “open
anyway” after the Planning Committee rejected Ms. Byrne’s application - it was
Mark Campbell’s really but I am being pedantically correct -
Bexley Cabs Tweeted
that it was untrue.
When it was made clear that it was Mark’s business partner who had said it -
confirmed from four sources - Bexley Cabs Tweeted that that wasn’t true either.
Both “did not say a word. Fact”, were their precise words. Bexley Cabs “wish that people
would report the truth” and invite readers to phone “me” - who I assume to be Mark Campbell,
son of Bexley council’s deputy leader Colin Campbell. He says his phone number is on the
planning application. True, it is, but scrubbed out by the planning department for reasons
of confidentiality.
Even if there was no promise to “open anyway ” the fact they did makes it all rather
academic. Reports came in on Friday that their sign was out saying that Bexley Cabs
were open for business, confirmed by two others on Saturday. Now someone who is
“bored by all the lies” has sent me a photo. It is taken closer than might be
ideal but it is interesting none the less.
The first
photograph is of the sign I took through the office window on the 2nd of June.
The next was taken last Friday and the third is an extract from that photo
showing just a bit of the pavement on which it was standing. It says nothing
about Opening Soon, it says “WE ARE OPEN”. What could be more definite than that?
I imagine that as permission has been granted for the free-standing
advertising sign and it would be technically possible to operate a cab company from the end
of any telephone anywhere that might be a neat way of circumventing the spirit of the
law. However we know from earlier Tweets that the advertised phone number is installed in the
office, but maybe it has been put on a redirection service which might be another neat trick.
But try as I may I can’t find any excuse for “Apply in office”. Bexley Cabs has denied the
“opening anyway” comment but how do they explain the photo? Adobe Photoshop perhaps?