5 December - A bunch of crooks?
When Bonkers was started in September 2009 it was a collection of pages on a
variety of subjects on which Bexley Council had either failed or stepped outside the law.
One of them detailed how in the years 2000 and 2001 I wrote three times to
Bexley Council about seven different things and as a result I was threatened
with the vexatious label with a ban on making further enquiries.
Sensitive souls weren’t they? At least Mick Barnbrook got away with 100 over
five years before they decided he was a racist and
@tonyofsidcup pushed the
boundary to 115; a figure he disputes, without any hint of being similarly
accused.
Bexley Council suggested I was a racist too after I asked why the signposts in Lesnes
Abbey park were in English and Vietnamese instead of perhaps English and French.
The signposts have gone now but the BIB page hasn’t;
you may read it here. The local
Councillor to which it refers was Daniel Francis and I am still a bit sore with
him for not contesting the threats made by the Chief Executive.
Interesting that way back in 2009 my complaint was that follow-up
letters were necessary because first replies never answered the question. Nothing gets any better in Bexley.
I had half forgotten but the ‘Vexatious’ page contains
a link to the BBC’s
website which explains how banning someone from making FOIs using the vexatious
tag is illegal and the link still works - even if the BiB page
pre-dates the
code update that makes provision for mobile viewing. I will have to fix that.
(Done now!)
Back in 2009 I was firmly of the opinion that Bexley Council was a bunch of
crooks and it is disappointing to note that they may still be.
@tony is not unaware of the law on FOIs and vexatiousness and is
undeterred by Kate Bonham’s unlawful FOI ban. Because she didn’t reply to his
complaint about it he has already referred her to the Information Commissioner.
He wrote to me too and most of his words are reproduced below…
There is absolutely no danger of me curtailing FOI activities as
a result of Ms. Bonham’s letter. Thankfully, it is impossible to “blacklist”
(Louie French style) a person from making FOI requests - a FOI request can be
vexatious, a FOI requester cannot.
I know this, Ms. Bonham may know this, Ms. Narebor (Bexley’s legal czar) knows this,
the ICO knows this - and may take action against Bexley for non-compliance with FOI legislation.
(As if Bexley wasn’t in hot water with ICO already.)
This would be ridiculous if it weren’t also depressing: two
senior council officers, each paid well over £100,000 pa - Ms. Bonham no doubt
busy assisting Mr. Thorogood in trying to stave off Bexley’s financial collapse -
are spending their time on *this*.
ICO ruling: “Just because you are a really annoying person is not sufficient grounds for
turning down your freedom of information applications.”
By being stupid at the turn of the millennium, Bexley Council laid the seeds
for criticism and ridicule over the following years and it would appear that history is being repeated.