21 August - Bexley Council has employed another misguided loyalist who, despite overwhelming evidence, will not accept that they broke the law
Over several years Bexley
Council has been plagued by the most awful incompetent managers. In general
terms they admitted as much only a few months ago.
Probably the worst examples involved care services. Some very poor decisions led to
the death of a three year old boy in 2011 and a criminally stupid
bit of budget saving led to
the death of an old lady and a huge cover up involving paying off staff with gagging clauses.
And then we have the liars who value their jobs so much that all thought of
integrity flies out of their mind. The last time Bexley Council attacked me with
lies which they had the News Shopper repeat they were intent on covering up a
minor indiscretion by a Councillor.
The correct response would have been “Whoops, sorry, we got that wrong. It won’t
happen again” and end the matter there and then.
Instead several witness statements, from Councillors as well as members of the
public, went to the police who thought the lies were sufficiently serious to
warrant a file being sent to the Crown Prosecution Service. A year later the
police apologised to me for the CPS having lost the evidence and the whole thing
petered out; but that merely illustrates the corruption that pervades such
organisations and in no way lessens the Misconduct in a Public Office which was rife within Bexley Council.
I thought such days had gone but I was wrong. Kevin Taylor, Bexleyְ’s recently
appointed Deputy Director of Children’s Services, has written to me to confirm
the view expressed earlier that blocking the King’s Highway is acceptable.
What is it about Care Services managers? How many inadequate OFSTED ratings have they achieved?
He begins as you might expect of a complete idiot by saying that I [that is me!] do not accept
that Madam Wilkinson was legally parked while he thinks she was. No one at
Bexley Council can see that yellow line offences are not on a par with road
blocking as defined by The Highways Act 1980.
He like everyone else involved believes
that as there are no yellow lines Kelly Wilkinson can park where she likes. The
police and Bexley’s Highways Department both think otherwise. My Stage 2
complaint gave a link to the Highways Department’s report. Kevin Taylor ignored it.
Mr. Taylor says the photograph does not prove the road was blocked. Tell that to
the driver of a fire engine. Taylor also ignores the fact that I had two neighbours
as witnesses to the fact that my car would not fit through the gap that Kelly
Wilkinson left. (One had returned home before Wilkinson appeared.) Three
residents and a photograph are subordinate to Kevin Taylor’s need to back his staff at all costs; to whatever reputation he might once have had.
“My Officers refute any suggestion that the offence [road blocking] occurred.”
Black is white in Kevin Taylor’s tiny mind.
His logical brain goes on to claim that
the July CPZ consultation proves his case that no
offence occurred. It is totally irrelevant to my complaint. It proves only that
he is not as clever as he thinks he is.
I can assure you that Council Officers do not believe that
they have the right to block the Kings Highway and from my investigation, I can
find no conclusive evidence to support your complaint that Ms Wilkinson did this
on 28 May and I can therefore not uphold this element of your complaint.
Not a word of apology anywhere. The fact that I was unable to drive away from home
was a figment of my imagination and of no consequence whatever compared to Bexley Council’s requirements.
Mr. Taylor confirms he is not very bright by sending me a Word document which
can be edited, instead of a PDF which any professional would have used. He also
says that I can appeal his decision to The Social Care Ombudsman; as if they
would be interested in an offence against The Highways Act 1980.
Mr. Taylor is already wasting more than £100,000 of taxpayers’ money every year
by being paid for uttering nonsense. I do not intend to add to that bill.
I think a more fitting memorial to his stupidity is
an Index bearing his name to
help Google find him, a permanent link from the Bonkers’ banner and maybe
regurgitate it here every day I am short of material.
For the record, this was my Stage 2 complaint to the long suffering and always helpful Lorraine Hand.
Dear Ms. Hand,
I am afraid I cannot accept Ms. Clark’s contention that that Ms. Wilkinson
was legally parked or that “we deem Kelly’s behaviour to be appropriate”.
I did not refer to any yellow line contravention and therefore Ms. Clark’s
reference to Parking Services was not appropriate and their response
irrelevant. My complaint, though not stated in great detail, was that Ms.
Wilkinson was in contravention of Section 137 of the Highways Act 1980. If
reference had been made to your own Highways Department they would have been able to confirm.
In their submission to the Cabinet Member a year ago
https://democracy.bexley.gov.uk/documents/s110206/Decision%20Report.pdf
they confirm in the opening paragraphs that activity identical to that of
Ms. Wilkinson has indeed resulted in police activity in my road.
Part 1 of Ms. Clark’s response to me is wrong in law and must be withdrawn.
It was originally not uppermost in my mind but I did not expect to be
answered by a manager so ignorant that she does not know that Council staff
are no more able to go around blocking the King’s Highway than anyone else.
Part 2 is more subjective but more important. I would contend that any
reasonable individual upon realising that they had blocked a road to through
traffic would hurry along and make an excuse for their criminal behaviour
and instantly defuse the situation. There were at least 30 seconds in which
to do that. It was only in the final moments that I spotted the Bexley
Council badge and momentarily impeded door closure to give time to read it.
If that is intimidatory it does not explain why Ms. Wilkinson said nothing
on her 70 metre 30 second return journey to her car and is in no way an
excuse for the preceding behaviour. i.e. Total silence. The ‘Facebook’
excuse offered is pure desperation. It was a comment made while Ms.
Wilkinson was driving off. Totally irrelevant to what went before which was
the subject of my complaint.
Do you really believe that after committing a criminal offence, albeit one
which fell short of becoming a police incident, any Council employee
including managers such as Ms. Clark may legitimately offer no explanation
or apology and that is judged to be “appropriate”? Is it really acceptable
that any Council employee, especially one whose job is visiting vulnerable
people is so lacking in people skills that he/she cannot communicate with residents?
You ask what can be done to resolve this situation. It requires only that
Bexley Council accepts that it and its employees are subject to the law of
the land, in this case the Highways Act, instead of claiming otherwise, and
that the arrogance on display on 28th May is not appropriate behaviour in any circumstances.
regards,