A Glasgow Labour councillor is threatening to take legal action against an SNP councillor who has accused him of securing contracts for a controversial Glasgow cab firm.
Labour’s Jim Todd had been accused by SNP Councillor David Turner of securing lucrative contracts worth millions of pounds for cab firm Network Private Hire. The Labour councillor has been a driver for the cab firm for several years.
A Glasgow Labour councillor is threatening to take legal action against an SNP councillor who has accused him of securing contracts for a controversial Glasgow cab firm.
Labour’s Jim Todd had been accused by SNP Councillor David Turner of securing lucrative contracts worth millions of pounds for cab firm Network Private Hire. The Labour councillor has been a driver for the cab firm for several years.
It is believed that Mr Todd has been consulting lawyers on a possible defamation action over the claims that were made in the council chamber. The Lib Dems are also believed to be about to submit a complaint against Mr Turner to the Standards Commission.
The cab firm has been at the centre of allegations that it had links to organised crime and that convicted criminals were profiting from the firm.
Earlier this month Strathclyde Police lodged objections against a bid by Network Private Hire to secure licences to run another 44 cabs. In April, Strathclyde Police successfully argued that a convicted criminal who held shares in the firm until last July was continuing to profit from the company.
However this Thursday the police authority withdrew their formal concerns after convicted criminal James Baxter left the company. Network has recently secured contracts with several public-sector bodies including the NHS and the BBC, the firm also takes children to and from Glasgow schools.
In August every black cab driver in Glasgow signed a petition protesting at Glasgow Council’s awarding of contracts to private hire firms. Many of the 1750 drivers were said to be furious at the decision to award contracts to Network Private Hire after it had been denied an operating licence by the council earlier in the year.
This fresh row is the latest in a series of scandals to hit the Labour controlled local authority. The ruling Labour group were rocked earlier this year when high flying leader Stephen Purcell resigned and fled the country after admitting cocaine use. There were fears that Mr Purcell had left himself open to blackmail from Glasgow gangsters.
This was followed by accusations of cronyism and misuse of public cash involving arms length companies set up by the former Labour leader. Jim Todd was recently installed as chair of City Building, which was one of the arms-length firms at the centre of rows over alleged cronyism in contracts and spending that benefited the Labour Party.
Calls for an investigation into the goings on at the council were blocked by Labour and Lib Dem councillors.
More recently Labour councillors at Scotland’s largest local authority have been investigated by police officers over accusations of financial mismanagement and sexual harassment.
However an SNP group member, Phil Greene, is reported to have been unhappy with Mr Turner’s comments and has written to Mr Todd distancing himself from them.
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