Ham & High
Thursday, 11 September 2008
Two Town Hall staff suspended
TWO members of staff in the Town Hall’s parking department have been suspended following a complaint from a member of public, it emerged last night (Wednesday).
Mystery surrounds the full details behind the suspensions or what rank the staff involved had reached within the department, although sources suggested they were “senior” figures.
An investigation to establish the facts is understood to have begun on Friday afternoon and a series of internal interviews are likely to be held. A timetable for the probe has not been set out.
Press officials said yesterday that “standard” procedure had kicked in and that it was normal for staff to be suspended following public complaints if there was any potential for the issue to be serious.
But it was made clear that initial checks had not pointed to any “wrong-doing”.
A spokeswoman said: “We can confirm that two members of staff have been suspended following an external complaint – this is in line with standard council procedures. At this time there is no indication of any wrong doing.
“The next step is for the council to carry out a full investigation.”
The suspensions cap a turbulent month for Camden’s parking services. Earlier this month a parking warden was arrested after allegedly punching a driver in Gospel Oak.
He pleaded not guilty and a court hearing is due to be held later this year.
Camden New Journal
Mystery surrounds the full details behind the suspensions or what rank the staff involved had reached within the department, although sources suggested they were “senior” figures.
An investigation to establish the facts is understood to have begun on Friday afternoon and a series of internal interviews are likely to be held. A timetable for the probe has not been set out.
Press officials said yesterday that “standard” procedure had kicked in and that it was normal for staff to be suspended following public complaints if there was any potential for the issue to be serious.
But it was made clear that initial checks had not pointed to any “wrong-doing”.
A spokeswoman said: “We can confirm that two members of staff have been suspended following an external complaint – this is in line with standard council procedures. At this time there is no indication of any wrong doing.
“The next step is for the council to carry out a full investigation.”
The suspensions cap a turbulent month for Camden’s parking services. Earlier this month a parking warden was arrested after allegedly punching a driver in Gospel Oak.
He pleaded not guilty and a court hearing is due to be held later this year.
Camden New Journal
Mike Greene is joining his family in Bournemouth
Mike Greene is joining his family in Bournemouth
Greene man heads for sea, sparking by-election battle
Tories’ environment supremo leaves Town Hall and moves to coast
ONE of the best-known councillors in Camden’s recent history has quit the Town Hall to join his family in Bournemouth.
Conservative environment supremo Mike Greene has already cleared his desk following six years as a councillor for Hampstead Town, two of them as a cabinet member in Camden’s Liberal Democrat and Conservative coalition.
Councillor Chris Knight has been promoted to the executive to fill the gap.
With his playful banter and neighbourly knowledge of the Hampstead streets he represented, some have suggested that Mr Greene is better known than some of the councillors who have occupied the leader’s office at the Town Hall.
Rival councillors were happy to gossip over a pint with him and it was a matter of pride that nobody scooped as many votes as Mr Greene at the last borough-wide elections – especially as the ward had previously been a stronghold for the Lib Dems.
While colleagues met his resignation on Monday with tributes, his departure has now set up an intriguing by-election which will pit the two sides of the coalition together in close conflict.
Labour councillor Jonathan Simpson predicted “open warfare”.
“Mike will be missed,” he added. “He was definitely one of their big-hitters and the Conservatives will find it difficult to replace him. It will be interesting to see how the coalition sticks together.”
It has been the worst-kept secret at the Town Hall that Mr Greene had dreamt of spending more time in the seaside town where the rest of his family live. His wife is a Bournemouth councillor and he recently lobbied to become the Tories’ prospective parliamentary candidate in the town.
“The selection process made things clear in my mind that I couldn’t carry on representing Hampstead when the rest of my life was in Bournemouth,” said Mr Greene. “The people in Hampstead deserve someone who can be there all the time.”
He said he had taken one last drive around Hampstead before taking a holiday, bristling with personal pride as he passed by his “achievements”.
“It wasn’t just me that worked on it, but when I went past South End Green and I thought I played my part in improving the area and wondered whether it would have been the same if I hadn’t,” said Mr Greene.
“I think on the executive I have instilled some Conservative values. We have not interfered as the previous administrations have – we let people get on with what they want to do.”
Mr Greene, who had a prior stint on the council representing Frognal, said he had thought about having a crack at taking on Labour MP Glenda Jackson in the new Hampstead and Kilburn ward, but decided against challenging candidate Chris Philp in an open primary last year.
“I said to myself, ‘if I have parliamentary ambitions they lie in Bournemouth’,” he said. “I will miss Hampstead. It has been a big part of my life, but the time had come to move on.”
Mr Greene missed a big chance to get the candidacy on the south coast earlier this summer, but the process was re-started when his main rival pulled out at the last minute. He said he didn’t expect to win the re-run.
Conservative leader Councillor Andrew Marshall said: “Mike Greene has served with great verve and dedication.
“He’s delivered substantial results across street-scape and public realm improvements, sustainability and recycling, improving planning and licensing policy, and measures to promote walking, cycling and public transport.”
Camden New Journal
Greene man heads for sea, sparking by-election battle
Tories’ environment supremo leaves Town Hall and moves to coast
ONE of the best-known councillors in Camden’s recent history has quit the Town Hall to join his family in Bournemouth.
Conservative environment supremo Mike Greene has already cleared his desk following six years as a councillor for Hampstead Town, two of them as a cabinet member in Camden’s Liberal Democrat and Conservative coalition.
Councillor Chris Knight has been promoted to the executive to fill the gap.
With his playful banter and neighbourly knowledge of the Hampstead streets he represented, some have suggested that Mr Greene is better known than some of the councillors who have occupied the leader’s office at the Town Hall.
Rival councillors were happy to gossip over a pint with him and it was a matter of pride that nobody scooped as many votes as Mr Greene at the last borough-wide elections – especially as the ward had previously been a stronghold for the Lib Dems.
While colleagues met his resignation on Monday with tributes, his departure has now set up an intriguing by-election which will pit the two sides of the coalition together in close conflict.
Labour councillor Jonathan Simpson predicted “open warfare”.
“Mike will be missed,” he added. “He was definitely one of their big-hitters and the Conservatives will find it difficult to replace him. It will be interesting to see how the coalition sticks together.”
It has been the worst-kept secret at the Town Hall that Mr Greene had dreamt of spending more time in the seaside town where the rest of his family live. His wife is a Bournemouth councillor and he recently lobbied to become the Tories’ prospective parliamentary candidate in the town.
“The selection process made things clear in my mind that I couldn’t carry on representing Hampstead when the rest of my life was in Bournemouth,” said Mr Greene. “The people in Hampstead deserve someone who can be there all the time.”
He said he had taken one last drive around Hampstead before taking a holiday, bristling with personal pride as he passed by his “achievements”.
“It wasn’t just me that worked on it, but when I went past South End Green and I thought I played my part in improving the area and wondered whether it would have been the same if I hadn’t,” said Mr Greene.
“I think on the executive I have instilled some Conservative values. We have not interfered as the previous administrations have – we let people get on with what they want to do.”
Mr Greene, who had a prior stint on the council representing Frognal, said he had thought about having a crack at taking on Labour MP Glenda Jackson in the new Hampstead and Kilburn ward, but decided against challenging candidate Chris Philp in an open primary last year.
“I said to myself, ‘if I have parliamentary ambitions they lie in Bournemouth’,” he said. “I will miss Hampstead. It has been a big part of my life, but the time had come to move on.”
Mr Greene missed a big chance to get the candidacy on the south coast earlier this summer, but the process was re-started when his main rival pulled out at the last minute. He said he didn’t expect to win the re-run.
Conservative leader Councillor Andrew Marshall said: “Mike Greene has served with great verve and dedication.
“He’s delivered substantial results across street-scape and public realm improvements, sustainability and recycling, improving planning and licensing policy, and measures to promote walking, cycling and public transport.”
Camden New Journal
Monday, 9 June 2008
Busted again? The wardens ‘parking’ on yellow lines
Angry motorists hit the street with their cameras and catch ‘illegally’ parked CCTV cars
IF you thought drivers hated getting stung with a parking ticket more than anything else, think again.
What they really hate, it turns out, is watching Camden’s parking wardens helping themselves to the borough’s best parking spots – yellow lines or no yellow lines.
The hunted became the hunters this week when a host of drivers sent in pictures of the Town Hall’s CCTV enforcement cars parking up in spots that would be out of bounds to any other vehicle.
It follows the New Journal’s scoop picture last week which showed how one of the cars, which are supposed to be roving Camden in search of rule-breaking drivers, sat stationary in College Crescent, Swiss Cottage.
Parking chiefs last night (Wednesday) defiantly insisted their cars could park where they liked as long as it was in the line of duty.
They said investigations would only be launched if wardens were found to be acting inappropriately – for example, if a driver was found having a quick snooze in the front seat.
But the explanation does not wash with motorists who believe it’s just a case of one law for them, and another for the council.
Fred Johnson, who grabbed photos of a CCTV car in Compayne Gardens, West Hampstead, last Wednesday afternoon (see above), said: “Ironically, there was a parking warden issuing penalty notices nearby and when I pointed out that he should be issuing a ticket to his comrades, he looked at me as if I was asking him to murder his mother.”
The car has already been photographed parking on double yellows in Englands Lane in Belsize Park – a neighbourhood where spaces to park are at a premium and finding one is a daily scramble.
This week’s batch of photos fired through to the New Journal included several snaps captured in Camley Street, King’s Cross, where wardens have regularly enjoyed the luxury of parking on double yellows in an otherwise empty road over the past few months.
A council press official said yesterday that there was specific enforcement action being taken around Camley Street because drivers were flouting the rules.
She said: “Certain council vehicles carry a permit which enables them to park anywhere in the borough, including on double yellow lines if it is for the purpose of carrying out enforcement duties.
“Our drivers have strict instructions that they should only park on double yellows when it is both necessary and safe for them to do so.”
Revealed: The security camera raking in £100k a year in fines
NEW statistics show a spy camera put up in Hampstead on the premise that businesses needed extra protection from crime is raking in at least £110,000 every year in fines by being turned on drivers.
Figures released to the New Journal under the Freedom of Information Act show the camera on the junction of Hampstead High Street and Perrin’s Lane has been used to clamp down on motorists making a No Right Turn rather than catching shoplifters.
Camden issued 2,748 penalty fines, which works out to around 52 tickets a week. Over a year, the council will have collected at least £109,920. The final collection is likely to be higher because £40 fines rise to £80 if they are not paid within a fortnight.
The level of fines is not as prolific as the 4,000 tickets dished out in the first four months that it overlooked the junction and are on a slow decline – but the figures still make it one of the parking department’s biggest money-spinners.
The installation of the camera was at the centre of hot debate three years ago when the former Labour administration was lobbied hard by residents and businesses who wanted the added protection of CCTV in Hampstead High Street following a series of break-ins.
The Town Hall agreed, but months later Conservative councillor Mike Greene said the council was using the camera for a different purpose altogether, warning: “Camden seems to be milking it for all it’s worth.”
Ironically, a change of power at the Town Hall later saw Cllr Greene become Camden’s environment chief and in control of the borough’s parking policies.
“I find it amazing that people haven’t learned about the No Right Turn,” he said when he was shown the number of fines still being issued from the camera last year.
£109,920 - The minimum amount of money the Perrin’s Lane CCTV camera nets the council each year
2,748 - The number of penalty fines issued to motorists for making a No Right Turn
52 - The number of tickets issued each week
£80 - The cost of the fines if they are not paid within two weeks
Camden New Journal
CCTV Smart car Caught in the act?
Investigation launched as traffic wardens are snapped ‘parking’ on double-yellow lines
PLEASE guv, I was only there for a minute – can’t you let me off, just this once.
Parking chiefs have heard every excuse a million times but they were frantically checking their own records this week to see whether there were any possible grounds for appeal in a particularly sensitive case.
As this picture shows, the Town Hall’s own parking enforcement car appears to have been caught out slap bang on the middle of two fat yellow lines.
The Smart car, which zips around the borough filming motorists making mistakes and parking in the wrong places, was spotted in College Crescent, Swiss Cottage, on May 14. Camden has checked the authenticity of the photograph and said it is now the subject of an internal inquiry.
Enforcement teams will have to explain why the car stopped there and what staff were doing inside. A spokesman said disciplinary action would be taken if necessary.
The picture was captured and sent to the New Journal by a passing driver – who just moments before taking the photo had been stung with a £40 penalty by wardens for overstaying in a residents’ bay for just four minutes. The photographer said: “I drove up the road looking for somewhere to park. As I passed them, I remember thinking it would be nice if I could park like that.
“One wonders whether there is one law for Camden and one for the poor residents whose sole role is to support them.”
He added: “I am not really angry – I just believe that we vote for governments and councils to be honest, open, intelligent and to be working for the betterment of the voters. Sadly, the reverse seems to be the case and I get every impression that both government and councils are not very honest.”
A Camden press official said: “Our drivers have strict instructions that they should only park on double yellows when it is both necessary and safe for them do so.
“We expect the highest standard of conduct from our staff and contractors.
“We have started an investigation into the incident shown in the photograph and will take formal disciplinary action if necessary.”
Camden New Journal
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