An investigation into a 'back door' parking tickets scandal at Liverpool City Council may yet yield more revelations.
Last month the ECHO published the results of a 16-month investigation into a "back door" operation at the council that saw officers cancelling the parking fines of elected members without using the proper processes. We named 14 current and former Labour politicians in our investigation which the current chief executive said highlighted an "unacceptable culture" at the council.
Our revelations sent shockwaves around the city and had major ramifications. Former deputy mayor Cllr Ann O'Byrne - named as having 17 tickets cancelled between 2015 and 2020 - announced she would step down from the council while former cabinet member Barry Kushner has been blocked from standing again after he was named as having seven fines scrapped.
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The Liverpool Community Independents group have suspended their leader - Cllr Anna Rothery - after she was named as having one fine rescinded, while Cllr Joanne Calvert quit the same group after she was named as having three tickets cancelled.
But while our investigation has had a major impact - the revelations and fallout from the scandal may not be over yet.
When the council finally responded to our Freedom of Information requests after a 16-month battle, it made clear that the response - which named 14 politicians - was actually incomplete.
The council said it was "taking urgent steps to review certain additional information which had come to light with a view to ensuring that it can provide a comprehensive response at the earliest opportunity."
This means that further cancelled parking tickets for elected members of the council could yet come to light. It is not clear how quickly any subsequent information will be released.
The remaining information was also referenced in the response to a request for a review of the handling of our Freedom of Information request.
In that review, the council states: "In the response dated 6 February 2023 the City Council considered whether it should delay providing a response to your request until it has completed that search/ review exercise - described as “Further Investigations”.
"However, given how much time had passed since your request was made, the City Council decided that the proper course was to disclose such (disclosable) information as it could on 6 February 2023, albeit with a view to its disclosing any further (disclosable) information the City Council identifies following the Further Investigations."
While Labour have already taken action against some of those named in our investigation, opposition groups continue to pile on the pressure.
Cllr Alan Gibbons, deputy leader of the Liverpool Community Independents group said he has had no answers to his question about who established a so-called "custom and practice" that allowed the parking tickets of elected members to be rescinded without using proper processes.
He said: "How did this opaque, self-serving culture develop and who was responsible? Why did it take 16 months for the Liverpool Echo’s Freedom of Information submissions to receive an answer?"
"The current Labour administration claims to prioritise transparency. So why is it so slow to investigate the quashing of 51 parking fines issued to 14 Labour councillors?"
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