Council slam taxi firm for sub-contracting school pick-ups
Richard Evans, local democracy reporter
A local authority has slammed an unnamed taxi firm for sub-contracting school pick-ups but has denied there were any safeguarding issues.
Conwy County Borough Council said it was “unacceptable” for a contracted school transport provider to let another firm undertake the jobs.
The council insisted there were no “safeguarding” risks as the subcontractors were “legitimate” and licenced firms and that all taxi drivers are subjected to police and DBS safety checks.
No safeguarding risk
But concerns were raised that parents may not have known who had taken their children to and from school.
A council spokeswoman said: “We are aware that a school transport provider asked another operator to undertake some journeys.
“That operator was a legitimate firm, and as such there was no safeguarding risk to passengers. However, this doesn’t make it acceptable; the original contractor should have submitted a sub-contracting request as per the terms and conditions of their contract with Conwy County Borough Council.”
She added: “When such issues are reported, they are reviewed as a matter of course, as part of routine contract management.”
The Local Democracy Reporting Service approached several councillors, including members of the licensing committee, but all declined to comment.
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If there were no safeguarding risks, how was it unacceptable?…. Strange how councils can get uppity about this but when the evil cowboys they hire to do housing repairs sub-contract (without informing the council) to an even shoddier outfit, it is not a problem…..there seems to be a theme of authorities in Cymru picking easy targets to deal with whilst polluters and corrupt officials swan around with impunity….