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Neath Port Talbot Council cuts will plunge transport for disabled kids into 'chaos'

A TAXI boss claims school transport for disabled children will be plunged into chaos because Neath Port Talbot Council is so determined to drive down costs. Neath Port Talbot Taxi Proprietors Association secretary Bob Hoyles has accused the authority of spending £1 million on a new "cutthroat" tendering process he says will end up saving the authority £1 million.

Mr Hoyles said the council had brought in a specialist company to create a website for transport providers to bid for contracts for special needs children and adults with learning difficulties. He said the new system had been explained during a meeting at the Towers Hotel, attended by 120 bus and taxi firms.

"As long as you are registered with the website you can apply," said Mr Hoyles. "They put the contracts on the website and you put in your bid. Once all the bids are in it goes to auction and you are given the chance to reduce your bid.

"I've got four contracts. I'll have to bid for every contract, just to be certain of getting work for my employees. They may offer me 100 contracts but I couldn't run them. "It's going to cause chaos but I've got to maximise my chances, and so have the other 120 operators."

Mr Hoyles said existing contracts expired on May 27. There were about 350 runs a day, each with a driver and escort, so theoretically 700 people could lose their jobs as there was nothing to stop firms from outside the county bidding for work.

"How can the council justify spending £1 million to save £1 million? There is no gain. All it needs to do is get someone from the trade to come in, sit down and put school runs together. "Instead they are creating a cutthroat situation because everybody will be fighting for their livelihoods. It's going to create mayhem."

A Neath Port Talbot spokeswoman said: "It has been a longstanding objective of the council to achieve substantial savings in the area of home to school transport while maintaining and improving services. "The council is committed to providing equal opportunities and assistance to all transport providers wishing to bid."

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IDFIMH

cos the spending is year 1, after that the running costs drop to whatever a website can cost (SFA in some cases) to run

TBH i coulda set it u for half that................




er, does he only bid on work inside his LA then?....

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Of all the things ive lost, i miss my mind the most

Spend £1million to save £1million sounds about right for a council. I wonder if they've got a best value officer??

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Do not argue with an idiot. He will drag you down to his level and beat you with experience.

Believe me, don't get Mercury X2

This will happen all over re= my earlier post. TfGMA the transport group takes control of all Greater Manchester Authorities on April 1. The reverse auction starts this year and any operator in any of the ten Towns and Cities can bid on any work in the Greater Manchester area, the boundries of which spread from Derbyshire to Yorkshire, Cheshire and Central Lancashire.

http://www.agma.gov.uk/latest-news/prov ... uses/index

as i said, its £1,000,000 THIS year, not every year

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Of all the things ive lost, i miss my mind the most

I often hear tales of the current tendering process being corrupt.

CC

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Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin

Only often?

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IDFIMH

lol yesterday

CC

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Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin

they only really needed to stick each job on a copy-cat "members only" dedicated version of this

http://www.shiply.com/

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Of all the things ive lost, i miss my mind the most