"Taxi" firm Olympic South Ltd loses £5.2m Croydon council contract
A TAXI firm has been all but dumped from transporting disabled children to and from school, the Advertiser can reveal.
Olympic South Ltd did hold the largest coach and minibus contract with Croydon Council, worth £5.2 million over four years.
The firm has now been reduced to providing a handful of taxi routes after the contracts were re-tendered following an inquiry into how they were awarded.
Wimbledon-based Olympic South was appointed as the main provider of the council's Passenger Transport Service when the service was outsourced to save £250,000 in August 2009.
The decision caused concern because Michael Lawrence, an expert involved in the procurement process, left his job as transport manager for Sutton Council to take over as director of services at Olympic South.
Croydon Council said the contracts had been awarded through a "rigorous and fair process".
However, a senior council officer had such grave misgivings that he stepped down, claiming subcontracting the service had failed to save money.
As concerns surfaced about Olympic South's financial stability, the council conducted its own internal investigation which found nothing untoward.
But the results of a second inquiry, launched after pressure from the Advertiser, led to the suspension of two senior council officials.
One of these, procurement officer Peter Storey, who oversaw the tendering process, resigned in July 2010.
As a result of the scandal, the decision was taken to re-tender the contracts.
Council leader Mike Fisher, who dubbed the original scandal an "embarrassment", is confident that past mistakes will not be repeated.
He said: "Obviously, what hap-pened was extremely unacceptable.
"But what I can say is that we have gone through this process properly and I have complete confidence that the routes and contracts have been awarded fairly."
The firms which will now operate the 12 main coach and minibus routes include London Hire Services Ltd, which has been awarded a £3.6 million contract to transport children to and from St Giles Special School in South Croydon.
Ruskin Private Hire, based in Lambeth, have signed a deal worth £3.2 million for Red Gates School, in South Croydon, and taxi firm Impact Group have been awarded several lucrative routes.
Olympic South Ltd were unavailable for comment when the Advertiser went to press.
source:
http://www.thisiscroydontoday.co.uk/news/
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