Lord provost and Labour group leader clash on use of official car
Lord Provost John Letford has accused Labour group leader Kevin Keenan of behaving irresponsibly by making an issue out of an abortive journey Dundee's civic leader made in his official car to Edinburgh Airport.
The city's famous TS1 licence plate.
- By Andy Argo
- Published in the Courier : 10.12.10
- Published online : 11.12.10 @ 01.01pm
Mr Keenan told this week's council meeting that discussed the authority's response to the winter weather of his surprise at learning of the lord provost's journey with two council officers for a flight that never took off.
He said, "I would have thought that it would have put council employees and yourself at risk, and I have raised the issue with the chief executive. Unnecessary journeys should not be made at this particular time."
Mr Keenan later said the lord provost and two officers had travelled to Edinburgh for a flight to the United States to attend the Scottish Christmas Walk in Alexandria, one of Dundee's twin cities.
He said, "I understand that the airport was closed and they were not able to go on the flight.
"I am told that they were away all day because it took them a long time to drive through to Edinburgh and a long time to come back."
He added, "We have had very bad weather, so I would like to know why they went to Edinburgh in the first place. Did they check the weather forecast before they left? Could they not have checked when they were on the road?
Necessary
"The council has a travel policy and we don't want to put the safety of our employees or the lord provost at risk. I want to know if this really was a necessary journey, and there was also the expense of it."
Mr Letford said he had no difficulty in answering Mr Keenan's questions, and accused his Labour opponent of lacking responsibility in raising the issue at an important meeting to discuss the council's reaction to the weather crisis.
He said, "What I think Kevin Keenan is talking about is my journey to the airport on November 30 — before the bad weather arrived.
"We set off in TS1 — two officers were with me — and had reached the Rosyth area when information came to us that the airport was closed because there was a problem with the runway at the time our flight was due to take off."
He added, "We were almost on the Forth Bridge and decided to continue on the journey because it was our responsibility to present ourselves at the airport check-in because there may have been another flight we could have caught.
Priorities
"This is what we did. It turned out that there wasn't another flight and we are now in the position of seeing about the costs being returned to the council."
The lord provost turned his fire on his former Labour colleague for raising the matter.
He said, "We had a meeting lasting nearly one-and-a-half hours about a very serious subject of how we were coping with the bad weather, and about the first thing Kevin Keenan brought up was this trip. I really question his sense of priorities and responsibility.
"Many people worked very hard indeed and extra resources were brought in to help us try to maintain services during the bad spell."
The lord provost added that TS1 — a top-of-the-range Volkswagen Phaeton — was commissioned to deliver meals to needy people during the severe weather.
The vehicle is four-wheel-drive and can negotiate icy roads that other vehicles cannot.
Mr Letford said, "We also used the 4x4s of the chief executive and other heads of department."
06.43pm - 11.12.2010 Jim Wallace - Dundee, Scotland Report This
The only person who is in the wrong is Kevin Keenan,he failed to check standard airport procedure,with regards cancelled flights. <br />If Mr Keenan,did the same regarding council staff issues,then there would bee no need to struggle into work,only to be told to go home at 10am,last week
09.52am - 13.12.2010 eagle_eye - Dundee, Scotland Report This
Glad to see Dundee City Council are staying loyal to local companies and purchasing the Lord Provosts car from a garage in Aberdeen.
01.12pm - 14.12.2010 Dundoniensis - Dundee, UK Report This
For goodness sake the real point is a) who was funding this ludicrous junket for three people to 'attend the Scottish Christmas walk'? I assume the taxpayers of Dundee! b) Dundee has a train station and they didn't need to be transported in a limo again at the taxpayers expennse! Snouts and troughs!
10.04pm - 18.01.2011 Anon - Dundee, Tayside Report This
The journey was on November 30th BEFORE the bad weather arrived? Funny that considering i have a photo taken of my snowed in car on 2nd December after it had already been snowed in for DAYS!!
Add a comment