In The Public Domain?

Tuesday, 6 July 2021

Wednesbury North Nearly Shafted + Red Yvonne Departure?

What didn't the people of Sandwell understand?

I am painfully aware that due to 47 years of poor education in the bent Labour Borough, Sandwell has a higher than average number of thick residents but will they EVER learn?

This blog has consistently exposed the corruption, cronyism and incompetence at the Labour Council but local people don't seem to care. Before the election I gave frequent warnings that a vote for Labour in Sadders was equivalent to a decision by folk to f*ck themselves and that they would continue to be shafted again and again. The people of Wednesbury North in particular didn't get the message that re-electing the vile and pathetic Peter "Zorro" Hughes (aka Alberich) was akin to collectively sh*tting themselves and so, post-election, they were the first ward Labour tried to shaft, with a proposed development of Goldicroft Park.

This corrupt Labour Group has been obsessively trying to destroy green spaces in Sandwell (Londonderry Fields, Lion Farm Fields, Brandhall Golf Course etc) not least as they are desperate for money to sp*nk on the Commonwealth Games paddling pool and the still unquantified "own-brand" track and trace system. Locals are so moronic and seemingly incapable of reading that I even put the message in pictures for them:

Londonderry:

And many more ...

Astonishingly there were 1,259 f*ckwits who voted for Zorro in May but the majority of the scum in Wednesbury North were too thick and/or lazy to even bother to vote - an incredible 6,913 of them (over 73%). This sent a clear message to Sandwell Labour that these were people they could safely sh*t on and so the plan was to destroy Goldicroft Park.

It has been one bright spot during the last few years that more and more community groups are rising up to fight the Labour dictatorship. Some failed - like the folk who tried to save Londonderry Fields - whilst others succeeded - like the incredible uprising in Friar Park and environs which defeated Labour's vile sleeper factory scam at Bescot.

This time there has been a twist since the group which sprang up after the corrupt Council started to investigate the destruction of Goldicroft Park has been hijacked by pro-Labour supporters. Happily the campaign to stop the development was successful and the good thing is that the community has the will to encourage more community use of the area. But the group leaders are now constantly rimming the three horrendous local councillors, Costigan, Giles and Hughes and if locals believe those three have their best interests at heart they are even dumber than they act! If you sup with the devil, use a long spoon.

Incidentally bent Labour Sandwell were due to respond to my Freedom of Information request about which Labour Councillors knew of the plan to try to destroy Goldicroft and the decision-making process but they have asked for more time to reply until 30th July. Watch this space ...

Has Red Yvonne F*cked Off?

In the last few years former Labour Leader "Red" Yvonne Davies said nothing (publicly) about the destruction of Londonderry Fields and was strongly in favour of the destruction of Lion Farm Fields and Brandhall Golf Course. I have pointed out (posts passim and see legal notice below) that this proselytising "socialist" was only renting a house in sh*thole Sandwell but had bought a nearly half-million pound dacha in leafy Herefordshire (as with Squealing Eling and his Derbyshire retreat, the Labour leaders don't want to have to rub shoulders with local scum every day). Her delighful new home is surrounded by gardens and lovely dense woodland so that it is difficult to even see it!

There have been rumours that Red Yvonne has now f*cked off to Herefordshire altogether and when I checked her Register of Interests the declaration about her rental property (ironically close to Brandhall Golf Club which she has been so keen to destroy) had disappeared.

Red has been very intemperate towards me recently (and yesterday attacked me "using" my wife) but she has failed to respond to my direct question whether she has turned her back of the benighted Borough. Come on Cllr Davies - you are not usually reticent so tell Skidder Readers the truth?

You see folks - it is you that are being taken for mugs. Labour p*ss on your green spaces but "Escape to the Country".

Incidentally a rather belated campaign to save Brandhall from Labour has sprung vibrantly into life. If you are local or a Sandwell resident anxious to save the ever-diminishing green spaces from the comrades, please use the hashtag #save_brandhall on Facebook. Alternatively contact new Tory Councillor Jay Anandou(Oh and don't forget to join The Skidder Facebook Group too - The Sandwell Skidder - Speaking Truth To Power).

Pic from the Save Brandhall Campaigners:

Subject Access Requests

Because of the institutional corruption the bent paid service at Labour Sandwell has been beset with Subject Access Requests (SARs) whereby individuals can ask to see their records held at the Oldbury Stasi HQ.

There have, of course, been attempts by the paid service to subvert this process and the compliance has been deliberately "patchy". In particular, Surjit Tour (Sandwell's highly controversial "Head of Legal" - posts passim and see legal notice below) tried to use Howard Kennedy, Solicitors, to pass on the files relating to me for a specified period. The posh and very expensive London solicitors sent me four lever-arch files of double sided copies - a huge quantity of documents - yet every one was a document I already had ie. they were copies of documents I had sent to SMBC or their replies. I referred to this obvious failure to comply with the SAR legislation in my High Court action after Britton and Stevens were involved in having me unlawfully excluded from a public Council meeting. During the period when Stevens was kowtowing to Red Yvonne, he was suddenly able to "find" hundreds of documents relating to me which Tour had somehow "missed". Tour has never provided any sort of explanation as to why these documents were - I say deliberately - concealed from me (and now there are other rumours relating to this particular affair - more anon as investigations are ongoing).

The SAR rules are simple. If, for example, a SMBC document refers to me then it is disclosable unless the law provides otherwise. Thus most documents are heavily redacted (parts are crossed out) where, for example, they refer to other people in respect of different issues or where the documents are (genuinely) subject to legal privilege.

But Stevens has a whole "cottage industry" set up to make sure nothing incriminating is let out (after he slipped up and was chastised for complying with the law and sending documents to me concerning a Union rep).

Very recently I was made aware that SMBC ran an online training session for Councillors which utilised a "chat facility" so that the sheep could make the occasional bleats. But two Labour Councillors seemingly used the session to make derogatory remarks about me - the aforementioned "Zorro" and "Puffing" Jenny Chidley, pot-head of the Parish.

It could hardly have been a simpler SAR request - please send me the "chat" posrs referring to me from this pair. You would think that would take about five minutes but, incredibly, Stevens and Tour have the legal team on the case. Someone who purports to be a solicitor is apparently contacting councillors asking if they consent to information from the chat being disclosed even though I am only asking for the comments of Alberich and Chidley.

It seems the paranoia of Sandwell Labour knows no bounds and the bent paid service are spending huge sums to try to prevent proper disclosure (and, of course, Stevens and Rajbir Singh are currently spending massive sums of your money to try and close me down again - more anon).

A Letter to Lachrymose Luke!

Cllr L Giles is, of course, a rather pathetic pant-wetter despite his physical appearance (posts passim and see legal notice below). He may be a fairly large and chunky bloke but, as this blog described, the mildest comment to him by those comrades he himself has been active in trying to destroy, is defined as bullying causing him tremendous "upset".

Recently I had sight of some interesting emails via Unite the Union one of which included this:

Of course, Reeves, Britton's right-hand man, was also instructed to nail me but this refers to someone else. But what the f*ck was going on with this guy?

I wrote to the Wednesbury Weeper asking for his comments:

"Dear Cllr Giles,

THIS IS NOT A PRIVATE & CONFIDENTIAL COMMUNICATION - PRESS ENQUIRY

I have recently had sight of certain official documents wherein it is stated that you asked Paul Reeves, when he was still employed by Sandwell Council, to dig up dirt on xxxxxxx xxxxxxx..

What was your relationship with Reeves when he was an employee of the Council and why did you ask him to do this?

Perhaps he is too busy wringing out his boxers as he has not replied.

In For A Penna, In For A Pound

Red Yvonne denies rigging the process that got David Stevens the top job as head of Sandwell's bent paid service. She just ordered no external recruitment procedure and he ended up on a shortlist of one! ROFLMAO! I will be writing more on this disastrous decision soon.

It is ironic, therefore, that Stevens should be allowed to get rid of deadbeats, Carter, Knight and the bloke from Sunderland etc and then try and mould a new team to his own liking (eeeek!) Hitherto most decent local government officers have avoided bent Labour Sandwell like the plague. At times they have even had to appont retreads. In February, the "flash" Stevens used expensive headhunters, Penna, to recruit five of his new top - and highly paid - team. I am not sure how much he has splashed on trying to get folk to come to Sandwell to ruin their careers but the May, 2021 "payments over £500 list" shows that us taxpayers paid Penna for "recruitment and consultancy" a mere £83,498.50! Nice work if you can get it when bent Labour brag that after 47 years of control there are kids starving on the streets!

And lets see how many of the five posts are filled by second-rate staff already there and who the cockeyed optimists are who arrive in the hope they will further their careers lol! The new Tory Councillors will want to see if this huge sum was money well spent!

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Saturday, 3 July 2021

The Sandwell Skidder - Two Million Views!

First and foremost, many thanks to you dear readers. This journalism about the fraud, cronyism and corruption at an obscure Midlands Council - bent Labour Sandwell - has hit two million views. Ironically this has happened when Labour and Sandwell's bent paid service under "Chief Executive" David Stevens are trying to close me down (again!) And, of course, many thanks to my small band of helpers who work tirelessly behind the scenes to alert me to the latest scandals and more.

Help Please - Part One

Can anyone spend an hour and a half next Wednesday - 7th July - to ride shotgun with me at the Sandwell Cabinet meeting? Usually Darryl Magher is around, but he is just recuperating from his op (all looking good, I understand). Unfortunately the top echelons of Stevens's paid service are targetting and harassing me - including making allegations which are totally false - and although I am now armed with recording devices I still need someone to "watch my back" against these liars. I can't pay but can buy you a couple of drinks at the Spoons! Meet at 3pm for 3.30 meeting start - Oldbury Council House. Contact details as ever below! Ta.

Help Please - Part Two

Regular readers will know that I ran three Information Rights Tribunal cases against bent Labour Sandwell. They will also know that under the disgraced former Chief Executive, Jan Britton, all emails of departing staff were frequently deleted immediately eg. Melanie Dudley's. Stevens himself turned up at the Tribunals and told them that the "old" Sandwell computer system was not very efficient in "re-instating" the emails the bent paid service itself had deleted! He kept on about how SMBC had spent extensive time and resources (and our money) "interrogating" the system to find documents said by Britton's team (including Council solicitors) to have never existed or to have been permanently deleted! (Incidentally, Stevens is now setting up a new system to make sure old emails are again deleted which the new Tory councillors need to question - I mean, what could possibly go wrong at an Authority where corruption is endemic?)

In a new twist, I wrote earlier this year to a Director of SMBC via email. This email was very important and yet not only was there no reply, but the Director alleges it was not seen. Even though every single email I have ever sent to SMBC "got through" the system it is alleged that this one went direct to the Director's "junk box". No screenshot of the junk box has been supplied to back this allegation up. And how did the Director know it was in the junk box if it was not seen?

I am not a techie but does anyone out there have knowledge of the system used by bent Sandwell? If the Director "found" the email in the junk box I imagine that it (a) it is still there (and so a screenshot can be supplied), or (b) the Director moved it to the Inbox or (c) the Director deleted it in the full knowledge that it had become very important. Surely in the cases of (b) or (c) there must be some sort of record in the computer system showing the action taken and the date/time this was done or am I being naive?

[There are other very suspicious aspects to this matter of which more in due course!]

A Quick Advert ...

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Spoiler alert - the one of the 1927 Smethwick floods is a belter!

It costs £6.99 and whilst it will be available in a number of local outlets you can also order directly from Andy via:

http://maxamcards.co.uk/books/

Red Yvonne's Latest Bombshell

I make no apologies that the main story today is something of a "repeat" of my last post but, whilst the subject matter is similar, the details this time come from a former Leader of bent Labour Sandwell Council, Cllr "Red" Yvonne Davies, who has direct personal knowledge of the events described.

As I have said before, Red Yvonne has many admirable attributes but also some less attractive traits - notably extreme stubborness. The message below is tainted - in the view of her many Labour enemies - by her close relationship with ex-Cllr Hussain but, from what I myself am hearing, there are very considerable causes for concern from what she says and Rajbir Singh, David Stevens and others APPEAR to be engaged in another massive cover up.

It is a shame that Red Yvonne is teasing here, and as she is no longer a member of the Labour Party and is sitting as an Independent, it is high time she put up or shut up. And, of course, she chose to ignore advice and did not demand the sacking of Surjit Tour, the Monitoring Officer and Head of Legal at bent Sandwell, whilst she rigged the appointment of Stevens as Chief Executive with no external (or , indeed, in reality, internal) competition. They played her like a fiddle but I think she still can't see this (yet!)

Local trade unions were out to get her as we recently saw that local GMB lardarse (yes, I know ...) Ian Cooper lectured her on what she shouldn't do as Leader (he had his Labour Party hat on but his Union comrades were out to get her as Stevens had expedited a Subject Access Request concerning one of their own - more on this anon).

This week I have also seen an internal Unite the Union email which makes this startling allegation to a National Officer about the bent Labour Sandwell leadership election in 2016 (of course, this is only an allegation and may NOT be true but why are Unite involved in this at all):

Here is Cllr Davies's explosive - and very long - public letter from yesterday. The scumbag who made the allegations against her is widely believed to by the vile Labour Cllr Paul "The Cipher" Moore. Stick with the read folks, because this is important stuff!

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PROUD TO HAVE BEEN TROLLED BY DICKHEAD DARREN COOPER DECEASED!

LEGAL NOTICE (Version 3 from 14th February, 2021)

In most cases we try to give the subjects of these blog posts the opportunity to comment on our journalism pre-publication to ensure the accuracy of our work.

Every now and again we make a genuine honest error and get something wrong. If an error in the blog affects you please email thesandwellskidder@gmail.com and we shall

use our best endeavours to publish appropriate corrections forthwith.

Saturday, 26 June 2021

Bent Labour Sandwell - A New Low!

I am indebted to local community activist Darryl Magher for the main content of this post. Darryl will be known to most readers for his diligent work in exposing the fraud, cronyism and incompetence of bent Sandwell Labour over many years. Incidentally Darryl is due to have an op today and I am sure we all wish him a speedy recovery and a swift return to his anti-corruption work.

Before you read his email below you need to know that former Labour Leader, "Red" Yvonne Davies, ordered a review into the infamous Wragge Report (posts passim) and I am informed that David Stevens (at that time anxious to appease her) duly delivered. Red Yvonne is a fully paid-up member of the Mahboob Hussain fan club but I am told that Stevens produced an explosive report detailing further racism against the Muslim community, gross incompetence in the preparation of the report, stinging criticism of Stevens's predecessor, the disgraced Jan Britton, and grave concens over the award of the contract to Wragges (solicitors - now Gowling WLG) plus severe costs overruns.

It is indeed strange that Stevens (pictured with The Squealer) was a senior Director of the bent paid service at the time of the Wragge Report and "one of the boys" yet he didn't "find out" about any of this until after Eling had been deposed!

Red was duly shafted and since then there has been a concerted effort to bury the Stevens Review (or "Reviews" as there may have been more than one).

You also need to know that bent Sandwell Council's former auditors were one of the big four accountancy firms, KPMG. They were passed over in favour of a second-tier firm, Grant Thornton (GT). Of course, GT are supposed to be fulfilling a public role in auditing this corrupt public body's accounts but have "skin in the game" by reason of the large fees payable by the bent paid service. We shall never know what promises GT made to the corrupt Council to get the gig, due to the claim of "commercial confidentiality", but what you will see below gives grave cause for concern.

Mr Mark Stocks is the GT auditor in charge of the SMBC account and Mr Dunkley is the GT CEO (overall boss).

Finally, before you read Darryl's email, I say in the title of this post that this is a "new low" for the bent Labour Council. This is because this is the first time in the years since the start of this blog that the minutes of a meeting have been disputed in this way. Stevens and Tour (the head of Sadwell "legal") have managed something in their short double-act that even the disgraced Jan Britton could not achieve!

Here is Darryl's Email of 25th June, 2021 sent to David Dunkley (GT CEO), David Stevens, Nicola Richards (Conservative MP for West Brom East), Rajbir Singh (Labour "leader" of Sandwell Labour) and David Fisher (Leader of Sandwell's new Conservative Opposition).

"Subject: SANDWELL - Mark Stocks - Audit and Risk Assurance Committee Mtg

NOT A PROTECTED DOCUMENT

I attended the above meeting today as a member of the Public, viewing from the public gallery.

The minutes of the previous meeting were not accepted as a true record.

There was considerable discussion about this matter and references to private sessions where it is said by some that a review and other report in to the original Wragge report was discussed.

I have submitted a FOI request on the Wragge etc.

I noted that Mark Stocks long in to the discussion spoke of there being "final resolutions" and that considerable time had already been spent on the matter discussed in private session.

This raised first concern. The original Wragge report was deemed to be in the public interest, surely any subsequent review or related report must be viewed in the same manner.

The original report has now been spoken about in Parliament on a number of occasions.

It is understood that the previous Leader of Sandwell Council had briefed current MPs on the review and matters arising. [I am not sure whether Darryl means Maria Crompton or Red Yvonne here and can't check just now due to Darryl's op.]

It is clear that a number of oustanding/ongoing cases, complaints, investigations etc refer to the original Wragge or rely upon some of it's content.

How can MPs, Officers, Cllrs and/or investigators possibly make informed decisions/judgements if they are not presented with all of the facts and the truth?

In my capacity as a private individual with some limited knowledge of the matter, when listening to Mark Stocks it appears he has heard and seen all the evidence and has given the impression that there is a need to sweep away/bury reports to be able to move on.

He stated that looking in to historical matters did not serve residents. This I strongly disagree with. There is a need for truth, accountability and for lessons to be learned by all.

I'd also suggest that already low public confidence in council governance is not best improved by drawing lines under matters. The truth needs to be told.

It is further understood that Mark Stocks has written to the CE David Stevens on matters although the content of the letters was not discussed. Is there a plan to try and suppress the review and report?

If Mark Stocks has seen and heard all the evidence and there within such evidence are clear areas of officer & cllr involvement this needs to be made clear and public.

This matter has already cost the council a considerable amount of time and money but I suggest that the effect on public confidence, should a "fudge" take place, will cost the council considerably more in reputation and further costs should there be legal challenges and further FOIs.

May I respectfully ask for your comments and also I ask that the review and subsequent report in to the Wragge Report is recommended for release.

I trust that there is no Officer or political coercion or shadowy xxxxxxxxxxxx [redaction by The Skidder though watch this space] connections that are suppressing it's release.

https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/gowling_wlg_report_also_referred#incoming-1811028"

Kind regards,

Darryl Magher"

There was a response to this excellent email from Mr Dunkley of GT:

"Dear Mr Magher

I have referred your email to Mark Stocks. Mark has provided me with the following informatio

‘The Wragge report relates to actions in 2011 and has been debated for a considerable period of time. To ensure that an appropriate resolution was reached the matters were fully debated at the March and May Audit Committees and appropriate resolutions reached. The decision to consider the matters in private was taken by the Council. This is not unusual given the complexity and nature of the issues. I am satisfied that the resolutions reached are reasonable and provide the Council with a platform to move on from these past events. Subject to agreement of the minutes from the meetings the resolutions will be taken to Cabinet and the Council.

These events have now been fully investigated and given due consideration by the Council. It is appropriate that the Council now refocuses on its current services and governance.

The Council’s governance will be subject to the review discussed at the Audit Committee.’

Please can I suggest that you refer any future correspondence to Mark as he is best placed to respond to you.

Many thanks

David Dunckley

CEO,

My pronouns are he/him

Grant Thornton UK LLP"

Firstly, it needs to be said that the Wragge Report does not relate just to 2011 but to later issues such as the sale of the Lodge Street building plot to Azeem Hafeez.

Secondly, what on earth is a supposed guardian of the public purse doing getting involved in political issues? There is no way that Stocks should be involved in this secret political process and making his own views known. He is not an elected Councillor. Nicola Richards and her Tory MP colleagues James Morris and Shaun Bailey, need to tell GT to butt out! This is particularly relevant when (a) large sums of public money have been spent on the Review and, it is said, on expensive external legal advice and (b) some of the Councillors in Cabinet at the time of the matters raised in the Wragge Report are still "serving" "lol" notably Paul "The Cipher" Moore and Simon "The Sandwell Slasher" Hackett. Indeed I am informed that Moore has been instrumental in trying to stop the publication of the Stevens Review!

Wragge's representative who wrote [sic] the original Report was chastised for an overtly racist remark about "inbreeding" and I held a one-man demo outside their office to demand they repaid their huge fees given this and the fact that the Report was crap. I now understand that the single racist comment was the tip of the iceberg and Wragge's representative (for whose actions they are legally liable) is said by Stevens to have made other disgraceful remarks. It cannot be that GT in a public role are seeking to condone and cover-up such racism in public life and Wragge's must be named and shamed into (a) an apology, (b) a commitment to change its ways and (c) repayment of its huge fee.

What a sad indictment too of new puppet Labour "leader" Rajbir Singh. An inexperienced Councillor controlled by Labour Party mentors is another who has come to the post claiming he will drain the swamp yet already his colleagues are at war and cannot even agree on the minutes of a meeting! Come on Rajbir - grow a pair and publish the Stevens Review(s)! Your reign will be forever tainted if you attempt yet another Labour cover-up (and the nine new Tory Councillors must fight for immediate disclosure). AND Cllr Singh, why are you covering-up racism and not demanding pay-back from Gowling WLG?

Of course, Andy Street (Tory Mayor of the West Midlands) is a big fan of Wragges and so will, no doubt, also have a word with his chums to do the right thing here.

Wasim Ali - No Azeem Connection!

I understand that Cllr Wasim Ali has recently got married (to a woman). He has kindly broken off from his nuptials to tell the Skidder in writing that allegations put to him that he is related to Azeem Hafeez both familially and via a family marriage are entirely false.

Azeem, of course, is the son of a former Labour deputy leader of the Council, Mahboob Hussain, who has just "won" over £22m worth of SEND contracts despite his regular appearances in this blog and the Wragge Report (see last two blog posts re the transport contracts and blogs passim via his involvement in various land details). [I need to just mention here the Legal Notice at the end of all of my posts since Sandwell's bent paid service under David Stevens seem to think it does not apply to SMBC. It does!]

This is all very curious since Wasim has always been considered to be Mahboob's brown-eyed boy and something of a protegee (and many in the Muslim community tell me this). There has always been speculation that when young Cllr Ali rushes straight out of Council meetings to make a long phone call that he is "reporting to control" whereas this is clearly false and he is presumably just discussing the minutae of Council procedure with his new bride.

For the record, Wasim also states that he has had no involvement in the award of the SEND contracts.

THE SANDWELL SKIDDER - COMMUNITY NEWS - READ THE SKIDDER, KIDDER!

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Post: Jules Saunders, 11 Chelworth Road, Birmingham B38 0BG

PROUD TO HAVE BEEN TROLLED BY DICKHEAD DARREN COOPER DECEASED!

LEGAL NOTICE (Version 3 from 14th February, 2021)

In most cases we try to give the subjects of these blog posts the opportunity to comment on our journalism pre-publication to ensure the accuracy of our work.

Every now and again we make a genuine honest error and get something wrong. If an error in the blog affects you please email thesandwellskidder@gmail.com and we shall use our best endeavours to publish appropriate corrections forthwith.

Friday, 18 June 2021

Sandwell SEND Scandal Goes National!

I have been a bit quiet lately for reasons I shall vouchsafe to you shortly but this week has been a corker in bent Labour Sandwell with the corrupt "socialist" Council in disarray as a scandal exculsively disclosed by this blog was finally picked-up in the mainstream media and gone all the way to the floor of the House of Commons via the most subdued Cabinet meeting ever (the first under the stewardship of Cllr Rajbir "Puppet On A String" Singh).

Over a week ago, I exclusively broke the story that bent Labour were intending to give multi-million contracts for the transport of folk with special educational needs (SEND contracts) to two limited companies - both owned and controlled by Azeem Hafeez. If you are not up to speed on this please refer to my short post breaking this story:

http://thesandwellskidder.blogspot.com/2021/06/hurrah-for-azeem.html

Azeem, widely known as Ed, was arrested in the fraud enquiry in connection with land sales and other matters at bent Labour Sandwell. It is important to note that he was never charged with any offence and strongly denies any wrongdoing. On the other hand, West Police Police have offered their "protection" to his father, a former Labour Deputy Leader, and a senior WMP Officer (as yet unidentified but at very high level) at the Bent Blues ordered the fraud investigation to stop so that the bent Council could have an "independent" solicitor investigate those aspects of possible fraud which SMBC itself felt merited investigation (posts passim ad nauseum)!!! Further, Azeem then point-blank refused to assist the fake SMBC "investigation" even though, incredibly, he was an employee of the bent paid service!

(There are very serious allegations emerging of the role of disgraced former Chief Executive, Jan Britton, in the respect of (a) the narrow terms of reference for the investigation, (b) attempts to influence the findings and (c) the cost (which I have written about previously). Currently Labour Councillors are blocking the release of what I am told is an absolutely "explosive" review of the so-called "investigation". Watch this space!)

What we know of the SEND contract saga so far:

There are widespread allegations (and I use the word advisedly) that the bent paid service, under the "leadership" of David Stevens now, has rigged the contract award. This whole tender process is still "live" and so there is no way Sandwell will provide any public information but very serious questions are being asked, and I have been copied into correpondence sent to Stevens and "The Puppet" Singh.

The existing SEND contract was operated by some 20 local firms but is due to end on 31st July (although the current operators claim it could be extended under the current deal to February, 2022 - something I can't comment on at this stage).

On 12th August, 2020 the scheme for a new contract came before the Cabinet which included Cllrs Wasim Ali and Farut Shaeen (the wife of Cllr Zahoor Ahmed). Both are believed to have close ties with the Hussain family (actually denied by Wasim Ali) and thus to know Azeem Hafeez well. Also present was The Puppet Singh himself.

As under Britton, Stevens likes to let his staff have a good metaphorical w*nk in these reports and they duly wrote:

"We have created, implement and manage our service to ensure our SEND passengers are respected and cared for through the provision of a high-quality and accountable transport service."

[They went for a metaphorical double orgasm by adding the ludicrous boast, "Sandwell now has a national reputation for getting things done ... ROFLMAO!]

You might think from this that "if it ain't broke, don't fix it". But there are budgetry worries (hardly suprising as bent Labour are wasting multi-millions on the likes of the absurd Commonwealth Games). But the corrupt Comrades agreed to set up a new tendering system called a "Dynamic Purchasing System" (DPS) and stated that one of the aims was to:

"increase (my emphasis) the number of operators on the DPS to encourage competitive pricing and undertake benchmarking exercises against other providers to achieve best value and reduce costs of individual contracts."

As above, there were already some 20 operators providing what the bent paid service said was an excellent service and yet SMBC took a free market decision that they wanted MORE competition to drive down prices (Maggie Thatcher would have been so proud!)

There is nothing in this Cabinet decision, however, that suggests that the current operational-level system would be scrapped too. This, in general terms, provided that one firm did all the transport for each school/venue. There was nothing to say that, in fact, Sandwell were going to divide the whole contract into just four (large) lots. (At present the bent paid service are refusing to say when and how this decision was made and who authorised it. There are rumours that a particular Councillor was directly involved in that decision but the other firms have been unable to get any information on this yet.) Many of the existing firms are small operators and so were immediately going to have to face extra costs and strain on already limited resources by having to go through a detailed tender process against "the big boys" (and they are boys ...) It seems some did not even understand that the contracts were being divided up in this way and they are complaining about a lack of transparency and help from SMBC staff (who are supposed to be helping small local businesses - or so the absurd Labour spin goes).

The comrades also agreed that the contracts would not simply be awarded to the lowest bidder but would take into account nebulous concepts like "quality of provision" and "social value". Given Azeem's involvement in the land sales and other matters you would have though he was a non-starter via "social value" but bent Labour built in plenty of "wriggle room" for themselves when it came to deciding who would get these large contracts.

Now things get a little strange. Without wanting to get too technical, the use of smaller vehicles for this type of contract has to be authorised by local Office of the Traffic Commissioner. Azeem realised this immediately (presumably because of his business acumen rather than a tip-off) and applied via one of his companies (North Birmingham Travel Limited - NBTL) to increase the number of its smaller vehicles from 20 to 30. He knew this approval was critical to winning the largest of the four contracts. Very prescient of him but despite this he hit a snag. Such was the "quality" of his operation, the Commissioners only allowed - pending further audit - an increase from 20 to 25 vehicles on the basis three NBTL vehicles had been untaxed for more than two months (!) and that there was not a robust vehicle defect reporting system so that drivers were missing "obvious" detectable defects. Quality indeed.

Incidentally, his other company, County Cars (2003) Limited which won the other three contracts also fell foul of the powers that be. In 2019 the Traffic Commissioners warned Azeem his PSV licence would be revoked unless he employed a suitably-qualified transport manager.

The Skidder has received numerous complaints from the overlooked firms which go way beyond "sour grapes" and which raise very serious questions about the tendering process within Steven's bent paid service. I have to stress that these are allegations and so you must read them as such save to say that they are ones that have been submitted by aggrieved parties to Stevens and The Puppet:

that the winning contracts were not decided on price and so who in the bent paid service decided the "quality and social value" aspect of the bids and how was this done?
why, when SMBC said it wanted to increase the number of competing firms, did 80% of existing suppliers get knocked out of the process at the initial selection stage and bent Labour reduce the number of suppliers from around 20 to just 2 (and both of them owned by the same person)? [Addendum 18/06/21 - just to clarify, some of those knocked out at the initial stage appealed. There are more than 2 firms on the DPS but only Azeem's two won work.]
which Councillors were involved in all this?
why were most SMBC staff working in the existing SEND service barred from participating in the contract "quality and social value" evaluation aspect of the tender award given their expertise on all this? Only one manager was allowed to participate.
Did one member of staff go off sick due to stress over concerns about the manner in which Steven's staff were conductng this process?
The tender says the winning bidders must show turnover of at least 2x contract value which was seemingly met, but if it was, why did SMBC decide to take the real risk of putting ALL its eggs in what is, in reality, one basket?
Azeem has had an appalling historic record of corporate governance (as detailed in this blog) and failures to comply with the legal requirements of Companies House. Was this taken into account when SMBC assessed the "quality" of provision?
Has Azeem got connections with Egan Travel?

Regular readers will wonder why an old favourite of this blog is not mentioned here but, yes folks, Five Star Taxis was an (unsuccessful) bidder. (Readers of this blog will be well aware of a number of "connected" bidders in other contract races which appear here.) And the Transport Manager Azeem was forced to take on at County Cars is, I am told, the son of a director of Five Star!

I wrote to The Puppet Singh (and David Fisher) on 10th June about the very bad record of compliance with Companies House requirements by NBTL but have had no response. I also pointed out that whilst local firms have been squeezed out, both of Azeem's companies are registered in Manchester!

"THIS IS NOT A PRIVATE AND CONFIDENTIAL COMMUNICATION

This email will appear on the Sandwell Skidder blog.

I refer to my blog post of yesterday - link below - wherein I wrote about the award of very valuable transport contracts to two companies both under the substantial control of Azeem Hafeez.

I appreciate it was before your time as Councillors but Labour Sandwell Council and elements within the corrupted paid service have been very anxious to improve the financial position of Mr Hafeez. He appears extensively in the infamous Wragge Report (and I understand that Cllr Singh is blocking the release of a review into that separate scandal for reasons that he is currently keeping secret).

The award of the contracts is due to be approved by Cabinet next Wednesday. The principal reason for writing is that I understand the paid service has given particularly high scores for the "quality" aspects of the tenders - a rather nebulous concept in itself.

The largest part of the contract is to go to Manchester-based North Birmingham Travel Limited and I draw your attention to the governance issues surrounding that Company in respect of filings at Companies House (attachment herewith).

Has this very poor compliance record - indicative of a distinct lack of "quality" - been factored into the "quality" assessment and, if so, what was the outcome please?

I believe that a number of the Cabinet know Azeem and will be recusing themselves when this matter comes before it next week?"

The matter came before Cabinet on Wednesday. This was the most sombre affair I have ever seen (enlivened only by Cllr Ann "Shakkers" Shackleton - attending as a guest - throwing her toys out of the pram big-style) and, curiously, Cllr Ali was not in attendance. Zahoor Ahmed was but declared no interest although a gulping Puppet - in the Chair for the first time - immediately announced that the decision was to be deferred pending further investigations.

Readers will know that I am not a Tory but I was delighted when 9 of their number were elected in May as an "opposition" at last and their Leader, Dave Fisher, is on the case in respect of the complainants.The local guys (no women yet but see below) can also channel matters to three MP's, James Morris, Shaun Bailey and Nicola Richards and the latter specifically raised this scandal on the floor of the House of Commons yesterday (why not follow her on Facebook and watch the video?)

The Skidder broke this story exclusively on 9th June but the Express and Star (ever anxious to rim bent Sandwell Labour) only picked it up on the 16th. But, fair play, they have been catching up fast. I don't usually like to quote the Star as they are not to be trusted but, exceptionally, urge you to read about Ms Richards's question and the response from Jacob Rees-Mogg:

https://www.expressandstar.com/news/local-hubs/sandwell/2021/06/17/rees-mogg-calls-for-police-to-examine-

sandwell-council-school-transport-contract-controversy/

For the reasons set out above, the Moggster's call for the police to investigate is pointless if he means West Midlands Police, and it really needs to be an external force involved.

You see folks - you can vote for change in Sandwell and get it. Well done to the Tories (so far) in keeping the pressure on here and exposing the general level of corruption to a national audience (again).

Just on a general point, it was not just the major scandals recorded in this blog relating to Azeem but there were other matters too. I wrote about the small development at John Street, Oldbury where he bought the land from a third party. That vendor had been told (rightly) that he could not develop the site for housing due to planning zoning rules. What he seemingly did not know given the price he sold it to Azeem for, was that our old friend Nick Bubalo (Azeem's boss) was amending the planning zoning areas. By another of those amazing bent Sandwell Labour "coincidences", Azeem was then able to develop the site for housing. A clever businessman or someone privy to inside information? And there are certainly unsubstantiated allegations here too, that at least one [named] "Deep Throat" within SMBC is still alive and well ...

I also wrote this email to Cllr Wasim Ali and Zahoor Ahmed (with a copy to the Tories) but the Labour pair have not responsed as yet:

"THIS IS NOT A PRIVATE AND CONFIDENTIAL COMMUNICATION

You will both be well aware of the developing scandal surrounding the SEND transport contract. Of course, this was due to be discussed at Cabinet yesterday where Cllr Ali was absent. Cllr Ahmed was present.

There were no declarations of interest made yesterday but this was possibly because a decision had already been made to defer the item.

By understanding is that you both know Azeem Hafeez well and so it would be helpful if you could confirm that you will be declaring appropriate interests if and when this matter comes back before Cabinet?"

And finally - Tividale By Election - Thursday 15th July

If you enjoy being f*cked by bent Labour then you can vote for them again on 15th July when a vacant seat in Tividale is up for grabs. But you CAN fight back and vote Tory and elect local candidate Emma Henlan to get the opposition another pair of willing hands in the battle to drain the Labour swamp.

Let's face it, nine blokes together can always find ways of getting up to mischief and so the Group needs a woman/several women in the ranks!

THE SANDWELL SKIDDER - COMMUNITY NEWS - READ THE SKIDDER, KIDDER!

**** Phone No: 07470 624207 ****

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Post: Jules Saunders, 11 Chelworth Road, Birmingham B38 0BG

PROUD TO HAVE BEEN TROLLED BY DICKHEAD DARREN COOPER DECEASED!

LEGAL NOTICE (Version 3 from 14th February, 2021)

In most cases we try to give the subjects of these blog posts the opportunity to comment on our journalism pre-publication to ensure the accuracy of our work.

Every now and again we make a genuine honest error and get something wrong. If an error in the blog affects you please email thesandwellskidder@gmail.com and we shall

use our best endeavours to publish appropriate corrections forthwith.

Wednesday, 9 June 2021

Hurrah For Azeem!

A short post today but I thought you would want to know immediately about the good fortune of an old friend of this blog. I am sure you will be out tonight celebrating when you know that Azeem Hafeez is scooping up five and a half million pounds a year worth of taxi contracts from bent Labour Sandwell Council.

For those who have forgotten, Azeem Hafeez is the son of one of the ex-deputy leaders and was also an employee handily placed in Nick Bubalo's "regeneration" department. He managed to buy a building plot in Lodge Street for a pittance for the erection of 15 houses from corrupt Labour who also flogged him the old Coroner's Court building in Smethwick. He was also involved in a dodgy deal on a piece of land in Clifford Street, West Brom.

You will also remember him making a stonking profit when he sold the Rickshaw Restaurant in Dudley to developer Jeremy Knight-Adams. What's that got to do with corrupt Sandwell? Well Azeem''s father then kindly "introduced" Shite-Adams to bent Labour who immediately agreed to an option for him on the huge 19 ha Lion Farm Playing Fields in an ongoing scandal.

Azeem may have shafted the people of Sandwell but bent Labour are very forgiving. The SEND Taxi contract is up for renewal. I understand that the current contract has 20 firms supplying the services but Labour is now reducing this to just two:

Happily the boss of both North Birmingham Travel and County Cars is one and the same person, Azeem! He's scooped the lot! Or at least he will when the Cabinet rubber stamp the deal next week. Nice!

Incidentally, the crooked comrades constantly bullsh*t about giving contracts to local companies but the registered office for both of these is in, er, Manchester!

Whisper it softly but there are claims that Azeem wasn't the lowest bidder but Labour squared this for him by giving him top marks for "quality".

Azeem - we salute your entrepreneurship and Labour - we salute your magnanimity!

Skidder Mentioned in Despatches

There was an ethical training - lol - session this morning for Sadwell Councillors and The Skidder was attacked by Peter "Zorro" Hughes and "Puffing" Jenny Chidley. They don't like being exposed do they????

THE SANDWELL SKIDDER - COMMUNITY NEWS - READ THE SKIDDER, KIDDER!

**** Phone No: 07470 624207 ****

Email: thesandwellskidder@gmail.com

Facebook: Julian Saunders

Facebook Group: The Sandwell Skidder - Speaking Truth To Power!

Twitter: Publisher: @CrowMultimedia; Julian Saunders: @SandwellSkidder

Post: Jules Saunders, 11 Chelworth Road, Birmingham B38 0BG

PROUD TO HAVE BEEN TROLLED BY DICKHEAD DARREN COOPER DECEASED!

LEGAL NOTICE (Version 3 from 14th February, 2021)

In most cases we try to give the subjects of these blog posts the opportunity to comment on our journalism pre-publication to ensure the accuracy of our work.

Saturday, 5 June 2021

Covid: When is a journalist "working"?

We all know how pathetic the local mainstream media is but in three recent episodes they have hit a new low. And an interesting question arises now that many are "working from home" whether they are actually "at work" or not.

Jayne Haynes and George Makin

Last year these left-wing "journalists" objected to something I put on Twitter. They decided to start a Twitter "pile-on" to try and get me suspended or expelled from the site. They encouraged their followers to complain to the site about me - odd behaviour against a fellow journalist lol! This failed. I made the mistake of not making formal complaints at the time.

We needn't concern ourselves with Makin anymore save to say that he was employed under the so-called "Local Government Reporting Service", despite his well-known "hard-left" views. This scheme is funded by the BBC so that WE were paying for his crap output via our collective licence fees!

As this matter came back on my radar recently (more anon) I did complain to the Birmingham Mail - the clickbait effort owned by Reach Plc (aka "Retch") now obsessed with publishing "advertorials" about the likes of Aldi rather than proper journalism. I asked the Mail whether Haynes had actually been at work when she started her vile campaign against me so that the Mail were responsible for her harassment of me? Strangely I did receive a reply from one Sarah Probert, who purports to be the "Deputy Editor", asking for further information which I duly supplied.

Haynes wrote a piece in the Mail that same day as the attacks and so was at work for some part of it. I informed Ms Probert that Haynes had launched her extraordinary attacks by four tweets on 6th June, 2020 at 11.08 am. 11.12 am, 12.16 pm and 12.39 pm.

So what did the Mail, that great upholder of "quality journalism", do next? Absolutely nothing. Probert has failed to respond despite being chased. These people are so high and mighty about being some sort of guardians of the truth but they are really just despicable cowards covering their arses.

ITV's Ben Chapman

This blog disclosed the high level of absenteeism in bent Labour Sandwell Council's paid service at the start of the Covid pandemic. Some of those rushing for the exit were full-time Union officials who were very anxious to "work from home". A large number of them have their wages paid by us taxpayers via "facility-time" despite working exclusively for the unions (again, more anon).

On the national ITN News I was surprised that ITV's Ben Chapman - who claims to have local knowledge - was sitting in a sizeable garden talking to a "customer services assistant" at a Midland's local authority. The report stated that she was "on the front line" of the Council's pandemic response whereas her Twitter feed suggested the exact opposite. Indeed she bragged to her Union General Secretary at the height of the Covid crisis that she was very busy, er, trying to recruitment new union members!

Of course, the "struggling single mother with two resident children" was - and is - a full-time Union rep at bent Labour Sandwell, paid for by us, and an official of a local constituency Labour Party to boot! It is hard to think of a more misleading few seconds of broadcast "journalism" even in these curious times.

Incidentally, by law, the top echelon of Sandwell's bent paid service must be apolitical yet very recently publicly praised the great work of the unions during Covid! Presumably the same unions who were vociferously campaigning to keep the schools shut and demanding that teacher's jump the vaccination queue!

A spokesperson for Chief Executive, David Stevens, made the extraordinary claim that:

"The unions have been a constant source of support for public health work throughout the pandemic. From safe workplaces to vaccination - they've always led from the front."

This does not accord with the information reaching the Skidder and please feel free to contact me on this or any other subject - contact details below of join the Facebook Group, "The Sandwell Skidder - Speaking Truth to Power".

The Express and Star

The Wolvo C*cksuckers never miss an opportunity to try and shaft me. A while ago I wrote to them querying why they always wrote about a Sandwell employee using a specific title when there was a danger that the public would be mislead by it (and some other media organisations did not feel the need to use the title).

Even though the C*S's were very well aware of the true position they chose to refer my query about THEIR editorial position to the employee and to their mates at Sandwell Council! The employee then complained that I had written to the Star on this subject! When I recontacted one Mark Drew, the Star's "Group Deputy Editor", suggesting this was a clear data breach he made the extraordinary allegation that I had not been mentioned by name to the employee nor Council. In other words they must have "guessed" that I was the person who wrote to the C*S's!

As I've told you time and time again folks, you can't trust the Star!

If you want real investigative journalism exposing bent Labour Sandwell there is only one thing to do - READ THE SKIDDER, KIDDER!

THE SANDWELL SKIDDER - COMMUNITY NEWS - READ THE SKIDDER, KIDDER!

**** Phone No: 07470 624207 ****

Email: thesandwellskidder@gmail.com

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Post: Jules Saunders, 11 Chelworth Road, Birmingham B38 0BG

PROUD TO HAVE BEEN TROLLED BY DICKHEAD DARREN COOPER DECEASED!

LEGAL NOTICE (Version 3 from 14th February, 2021)

In most cases we try to give the subjects of these blog posts the opportunity to comment on our journalism pre-publication to ensure the accuracy of our work.