Has Hell frozen over? Barnet Council has actually admitted it made a mistake cancelling Freedom Passes for the most vulnerable people in the Borough! Oddly this admission and the apology were contained in the forward to the annual parking report!
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Foreword
It has been a busy year for the service and we have made good progress in improving the
parking service for residents and businesses. Keeping traffic moving smoothly and safely and
improving the borough’s air quality continues to be a top priority for the borough.
In 2016/17 we introduced CCTV cameras at a number of locations to deter poor driving and
to take enforcement measures when it is captured. The sites that were chosen for the
installation of CCTV cameras are those where poor driver behaviours can cause congestion
as this is detrimental to our Traffic Management responsibility. CCTV was also installed at
school entrances to ensure the safety of school children when entering and exiting the
school gates.
Unfortunately we made a significant mistake and cancelled a number of freedom passes for our most vulnerable residents. The Council apologised unreservedly for its mistake, and we
have worked hard to improve the process for accessing freedom pass customers in the future.
We remain committed to the key priorities outlined in our Corporate Plan, the Environment
Commissioning Plan and the council’s Parking Policy.
I hope that you find this annual report informative and that it helps to demonstrate the
achievements, purpose and future direction of Parking services across Barnet.
Councillor Dean Cohen
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This story was broken by the Barnet Eye on 4th April 2016. It gives me great satisfaction that my efforts as a blogger have directly resulted in the restoration of the passes and the admission by the council that they have made a "significant mistake". Having been derided for years by the various councillors in the Conservative party, referred to by Conservative MP Mike Freer as a "One Handed blogger, you know what he's doing with the other hand" whilst he was council boss, and harrassed by other Tory councillors when objecting to this, it vindicates the work I've done and that done by the other Barnet bloggers. I doubt any of us will ever get a civic award for our services,but it is justification enough to see this!
3 comments:
Thank you Roger for letting me know via Twitter with a tweet. I really do appreciate it.
So Barnet council apologies for mistakenly & wrongfully cancelling freedom pass last year.
I think Barnet did apologies numerous times a lot for their mistakes regarding the last year's freedom pass scandal. This one is a real & decent apology. For me, I moved on from the story as you know that I have got my free travel pass back & that I was awarded last December by Roger as I received the Barnet Eye Person of the Year 2016 (which I call myself Barnet Person of the Year 2016). I never looked back as I kept continuing with my life (apart from that I still receive no compensation from the council but that's fine). It will not mean I forget that Barnet did had done the heinous act & neither should you.
So I do acknowledge Barnet council's mistake & that I do accept their apology. Let's not forget the fact that it was Capita (Crapita as Barnet Tory councillors who are partners with them) who also did had a responsibility of last year's freedom pass fiasco too.
If Barnet council really want to cancel disabled persons freedom pass until further notice, they would had sent letters to all freedom pass holders like myself to let them & me know in an advance before doing so in a effect with a reason. Unfortunately, they did not done that & that was not what I remembered last year.
What I remembered one year ago was that, the letters were sent to everyone including me & everyone (who hold free bus pass card) at the time (& I would had took the picture of it). It was about "renewing freedom pass" which was turned out to be a scam & Capita & Barnet council had failed to realise & understand that disabeld freedom pass expiry date is 31st March 2020 (& 2021). Not 2016 because the last expiry date was 2015 (same date. 31st March). All that lack of understanding & utter contempt by Barnet & Capita, the freedom pass cockup story happened strangely one month later.
That is why I did let know Roger by Twitter last year after my free transport pass was wrongly blocked without no reason whatsoever. I was not only the one. It happened to Jenny & the others who do use disabled persons freedom pass.
I know that Barnet council will not make the same mistake ever & I do hope & pray that they won't do it again. It shouldn't had even happened in the first place. If does happen again then it wouldn't be all over in Barnet, It would be all over in London & possibly it would be all over in the UK & maybe international. That is something that I do not want to imagine like that.
So I think that the last year's freedom pass scandal in Barnet would be an reminder to vote out the Tories by next year's council election.
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