No, he’s not in the toilet; he’s left the building – more on Cllr Padmore
An update on controversial Lewisham Labour councillor Stephen Padmore – a local newspaper, the News Shopper, is now calling on him to resign:
Councillor Stephen Padmore turned up to sign his name at a planning meeting in June – the first he had attended in six months – before quitting the room without explanation.
It’s alleged he only made the fleeting appearance to dodge a council rule which sacks members who do not show their faces for six months.
The Lewisham Council meeting was initially put on hold as people assumed he had gone to the loo but committee members later collapsed into disbelieving giggles when they realised he had done a runner.
The New Cross ward councillor has effectively pocketed £4,906 for each of the two meetings he has been to since June last year as he receives an annual allowance of £9,812.
Mr Padmore’s showing on June 7 was the only one of 17 council meetings he was due to attend within six months – if he had not attended it, he would have legally been struck off from his post under council guidelines.
UPDATE: It looks like he’s suffering from severe health issues, for which sympathies are most definitely appropriate. Sometimes people do fall ill and are not able to do their role. That’s not a criticism of them, and should only become one if they then decline to stand aside from their role. That, alas, looks to be the situation here.
Has the definition of 'attend a meeting' been tested in a court? The normal meaning of the words would not include turning up to sign the register and then leaving straight away.
Strangely I cannot remember him attending a Council meeting in January, so thought it very odd when at the next meeting it was moved his name be added to those present (supported with a majority vote by Labour). I have subsequently challenged this and asked for an investigation. We were told he had forgotten to sign in – however, his signature now appears in the minute book. The votes at that Council meeting each was one person missing – he must have been in loo each time!
Weird thought – but does the Town Hall entrance have CCTV? If so that might be interesting to check!
Our meetings are recorded but the tape has been wiped !
I'm sure Duwayne has checked some tapes – I'll see whether he has checked the entrance CCTV.
Wiped tapes? Very Richard Nixon!
Not so Tricky Dicky, we wipe our tapes after a time otherwise they would use up huge amounts of server space. However, if the minutes have been doctored in January to cover up the fact that he wasn't actually there, that is fraud.
Memories of Edward Mark. Tried sending a letter to the Newsshopper but their email bounced back
Tapes are usually kept for over a month unless the council has gone digital then it depends on the size of the hard drive