2 November (Part 1) - Still aboard the gravy train
Every couple of months I meet what is left of the original BiB crew. One
deaf, one nearly blind, (the other half of the group dead) and me as Uber driver. Last Tuesday one of the questions
was “whatever happened to Will Tuckley, is he still at Tower Hamlets?” To which I could only add “no” and little else.
If you have been here for ever you may remember that Will Tuckley was the Chief Executive
imported to Bexley from Croydon after the later jailed (suspended sentence) Bexley
Council Leader fell for a sob story from Tuckley’s predecessor. He claimed that
he had to retire on health grounds.
Serious heart problems, so off he went with a reputed £300,000 Golden Goodbye
and a £50,000 annual pension which you are still paying. A couple of months
later he popped up in
a
senior position at Hammersmith & Fulham Council.
Tuckley came attached to a story that while in Croydon he
ran over and killed a man in a Council car park notorious for being
frequented by people high on drugs and it was all hushed up and not
reported. It transpired that Tuckley was great mates with the borough Police
Commander who managed to follow him to Bexley.
While in Bexley Will Tuckley became notorious for all sorts of things one of
which saw Greenwich Police investigate him for Misconduct in a Public Office.
They had so much evidence that they had no alternative but to send a file to the CPS.
While he was being considered for prosecution Will was
recruited by the Government appointed Commissioner to run Tower Hamlets Council
which was in big trouble. The aforesaid Borough Commander and his Deputy went there too.
Former Police Inspector Mick Barnbrook wrote to the Commissioner to ask if he knew that Will Tuckley might soon be in jail but
he was dismissed as a lying
racist. Tuckley
was appointed while the CPS carelessly lost the Police file.
All was quiet for a couple of years until Will Tuckley was caught up in
a
Tower Hamlets scandal and reported in the Sunday Times. A property developer
bribed the usual Tower Hamlets suspects with £2 million and the allegation was
that the Chief Executive failed to notice and only tipped off the police when the news was about to break.
Despite that, Tuckley limped on in Tower Hamlets until March 2023 when
£217,844 fell into his hands. The Council’s 2022/23 accounts show total payments at very nearly half a million.
Then what?
Enquiries reveal he has landed
a plum job in Slough. A near bankrupt (billion plus pounds of debt and
deficit) Council that could afford to pay Tuckley £1,100 a day.
BBC report.
One Council, two Chief Executives on the make.
How do they get away with it?