Conservative error leaves HBC with £210,000 bill

A report to Cabinet on 5th June 2013 demonstrated Hyndburn Borough Council's failure to meet statutory requirements to advertise variations in taxi fees starting from April 2004. This has given rise to an obligation to repay the unadvertised element of these fees paid t the Council during the 6 year statutory limitation period. Internal auditors have carried out an review to ascertain the causes of failure to advertise this and the estimated cost to HBC is thought to be £210,000.

Cllr Clare Pritchard, Deputy Leader of HBC, said, "We have now put new and robust procedures in place to prevent this ever happening again. We have carried out a detailed audit of our current fees and have ascertained that these are justifiable inr elation to our administrative costs. We are also introducing electronic time recording in the next few months in the Licensing section, together with a detailed procedures manual."

Cllr Pritchard welcomed the action of Council officers to remedy this situation and announced that they have been requested to look at new ways of promoting a fair taxi charging scheme, something which is likely to be the subject of public consultation.

Cllr Miles Parkinson, Leader of HBC, quipped, "A night out with Peter Britcliffe and the Conservatives would be an expensive affair. It's £700k to look at his failed Hyndburn Life website for ideas of where to go, £18 a time to use the toilet and then another £210k for a taxi home."

News articles have been run in the Accrington Observer and Lancashire Telegraph and can be found by following these links:

Accrington Observer - victory-taxi-boss-council-told

Lancashire Telegraph - Admin_blunder_means_payouts_totalling_210_000_to_Hyndburn_taxi_drivers