Will the UK Serious Fraud Office investigate claims that top Westminster Council officers were part of a £200m Parking Enforcement contract scandal – or not?

Posted: 16th February 2010 | 3 Comments »

Unless you are new to Britain or live in a shed or up a tree, you will know that the business of ‘enforcing’ parking regulations frequently arouses suspicions of foul play. Parking contract activity may seem like a dull aspect of local governance, but since it was ‘decriminalised’ in 1991, it has become quite ‘exciting’ for some. And, with parking fees and fine incomes for UK councils totalling £1.9bn per year in 2009, it has also grown into a very big and often murky business indeed for others, especially in that most illustrious and wealthy of London Boroughs, run by Westminster City Council (WCC).

But, the latest focus for suspicions may cap all that have gone before. This week, two top WCC officers were formally accused of a series of offences under the Fraud Act 2006, and of Gross Misconduct in Public Office. I learn late tonight that the BBC have now picked up on this. The claims were lodged by the No-To-Bike-Parking-Tax (NTBPT) campaign group against the suspects who are… Well I’ve just heard that one of them is shaping up to take legal action to block being named and attack anyone with the temerity to question the legitimacy of his recent actions, so, as I have no intention of interfering with the due course of justice, I have for the moment removed the names of the suspects…

To be fair to Westminster, as I always try to be, theirs is not the only place where the execution of parking business can at times become unseemly or shown to be illegal.

Dodgy doings by private parking companies with hugely lucrative council contracts across the UK have been well documented over many years. And, as the latest ‘SHOCKING’ video evidence shows, the UK’s ‘leading parking enforcement firm’ APCOA, recently employed a couple of ‘swaggering’ wardens to act as agents of local governance, but who seem to have extended the ‘services’ they offer the local community to a spot of illegal drug dealing.

I can’t vouch for the reliability of this footage or legal case against the two ‘civil enforcement officers’ though, but note that the National Newspaper who published reports of these seemingly criminal actions has not been made to take them down as yet. I am, however, fairly confidant that if the two officers caught on film were selling illegal drugs, they will probably be subject to rigorous investigation by their employers and be brought to due justice by the police. In fact the employers APCOA were quick to say they were “appalled” by the allegations and are taking them “very seriously” and that “any suggestion of illegal activity by their employees, would be taken straight to the police”. Strangely though, I am far less confident about what will happen to the two senior officers on the Westminster payroll. I am even doubtful about the extent of justice that will be brought to bear on this case.

For a start, the video footage of two blokes in parking enforcement officer’s uniforms doing a sixty quid dope deal is clear – and looks like damming evidence of deeply dodgy conduct. Whereas it is not so easy to see such clear proof of what that Gilchrist and Large may have been up to. Especially as the evidence so far is currently all in a 54 page report that details the various claims about what they have been doing behind the scenes where big value enforcement contracts are transferred from one company to another. But although I make no claims to being a legal expert, I have read the complete list of ‘suspicions’ of wrong doing and have formed my own opinion that that there seems to be some serious and well evidenced reasons to doubt that due procedures have been followed.

In a nutshell, it is claimed that the WCC officers made a series of moves to enable Westminster and over 30 other councils to change the contractor they used for parking enforcement, but without going through the full tendering processes that local authorities are required to do by UK and EU law. Crucially though, if it is eventually proved that this is what they have done it could mean that all of the councils involved will have to pay back over £200m to people who were issued with PCNs by companies that had no legal right to do so.

So, with that amount of local government and big parking company business revenue potentially at stake – and the ongoing £billions from future enforcement contracts – it should come as no surprise that the activities of ********* and ***** are likely to benefit from a significantly more well funded defence than a pair of dope dealing traffic wardens are likely to muster.

It also seems likely to me that a whoever is involved with investigating the allegations of Fraud and Gross Misconduct, they will be in for an uphill struggle and will face intense scrutiny and great but probably well hidden resistance from various aspects of the government machine. Initially, this investigation will be by the Met Police who have told me tonight. “We can confirm we have received an allegation of fraud on 10 February. The allegation is currently been looked at. We are unable to discuss further at this early stage.”

I also gather that whether this ends up being investigated by the SFO will depend on various factors including the amount of cash that ends up being considered to be at stake.

Meanwhile, the latest news I’ve been given from Westminster tonight comes from Mike More, Chief Executive of Westminster City Council. He tells me that these allegations are all part of an ongoing campaign by a “motorbike protest group who are unhappy over parking charges in Westminster”. Although More fails to acknowledge a parallel set of similar claims being investigated in Sunderland by the Parking Appeals car driver group co-ordinated by Neil Heron. Anyway, More goes on to say that WCC “remain confident that the parking contract was properly let by our officers and all allegations of fraud or deliberate wrongdoing are completely unfounded”. Although he feels obliged to add that they are now considering their legal position to see what action they should take in response to these claims with a suggestion that “if “there is an investigation “we will fully co-operate with any police enquiry and I fully believe this will resolve the issue.”

But with no undue disrespect for Mr More, the Met police have already issued a crime number in response to the NTBPT claims – so it is already clear that an investigation is going to happen – and has begun. What remains to be seen is how far the investigation will go and to see if the SFO will be drawn into investigate these allegations that senior officers have been engaged in Fraud and Gross Misconduct. All I can say for now is, that we’ll all have to wait and see but don’t hold your breath though because this is in my view likely to be a very long winded affair…

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