Council Officers haven’t visited the deserts of Sudan, or the gardens of Japan, or Milan or Yucatan, nor the wilds of Borneo, or the vineyards of Bordeaux, not as far as the Whistleblowers evidence shows.
However, they have been to Malaga, Alicante, Valencia, Barcelona, Ibiza, Paris, Amsterdam, Venice, Greek Islands, Cyprus, Malta and other European destinations according to claims and evidence of the Whistleblowers.
It’s been 23 days since we posted Holidays & Hypocrisy, where we raised the claims made by senior Council Whistleblowers that council officers have received holidays in return for awarding contracts to certain contractors. There evidence stacks up, not once or twice, but shows seventeen officers have definitively received holidays. Some officers (not those who recently left) have since left the building, but most are still in post according to the Whistleblowers.
Given these are the same Whistleblowers who have been vindicated over the contract and financial irregularities at the Council, we and they are certain, if the Council were to do some concerted digging, they’d uncover a flurry of suntans ascertained by the gratitude of local companies. All of them gained between early 2018 and late 2021.
Moving on, the Council have been sending out officers at the lower end of the pay scale in Council vans which are untaxed. Just yesterday (27.10.22) the Council were sending out officers in untaxed vans and here’s just one which was clamped at South Rd, Hythe. It’s not had valid road tax since 1 July 2022, so nearly fourth months.
It’s virtually impossible to get away without paying road tax if you’re required to because the DVLA runs monthly computer checks of all vehicles registered in the UK.
If the system flags up a vehicle as being untaxed and not declared SORN, an automated letter and fine of £80 will be sent to your address if you’re the registered keeper. You won’t get any points on your licence though. If you pay the fine within 28 days, you should receive a 50% discount.
If you fail to pay the fine, you could be prosecuted, and the penalty could be increased to a maximum of £1,000 if the case goes to court. The DVLA also has the power to clamp your vehicle until the correct amount of tax is paid.
Also the RAC state:
Driving without tax FAQs
Does having no tax invalidate your insurance?
If your car doesn’t have tax then you can’t legally drive it on UK roads. This means that any insurance policy you have taken out for your car will be invalidated.
Somebody somewhere in the Council knows the van above and others were not taxed. Somebody somewhere didn’t say anything and allowed the driver to drive it, without valid insurance.
Also it’s clear the Council must have received letters from the DVLA for the nine vehicles which have gone untaxed between May and October. It’s also clear fines must have been issued. This is seriously shit admin by the Council.
It’s clear senior management cannot do the jobs they are paid to do. They cannot ensure officers don’t receive holidays for awarding contracts to Council contractors, and they can’t ensure responsible officers pay road tax for the council vans.
As Princes Parade may well be abandoned due to financial difficulties and the accounts still have not been published three months after the 1 August 2022 deadline, it’s clear that across the whole council there are serious financial issues, so much so nobody can pay the road tax for the Council vehicles. That’s how bad things have got.
It is time for senior heads to roll, but neither Cllr Monk (pictured left) or the Chief Executive, Dr Susan Priest, have the metaphorical testicles to launch investigations and start sacking people, or handing them over to the Police to be charged. All the while they are both in office and destroying the reputation of our Council and our district.
Will somebody kindly pay for them both to take permanent Holidays in the Sun, because that’s a job they can do.
