The London Assembly yesterday voted to remove to Brian Cooke from the role of Chairman of London TravelWatch after it found he was in breach of his terms and conditions on employment.
Cooke was removed from his post after backing Boris Johnson’s campaign to become Mayor – TravelWatch is a politically independent body and funded by the Assembly.
In February Johnson’s election campaign announced Cooke would be appearing at the launch of his transport manifesto however when questioned by MayorWatch about this he later dropped out.
In April Cooke issued a statement endorsing Johnson and attacking Ken Livingstone’s record on transport and branded plans to extend the Freedom Pass as a “mad idea” – apparently unaware that this was a key pledge by both Johnson and Livingstone.
Labour’s Transport spokesperson Val Shawcross said, “The committee took the view that Brian Cooke’s reputation as an impartial representative of London’s travelling public had been irreversibly damaged.”
“It is sad for Brian that he had to leave in these circumstances but by making his political views public he compromised Travelwatch and seriously breached the conditions of his appointment. The committee really had no other choice.”
Roger says
June 4, 2008 at 5:07 pmWhat a farce. Brian Cooke wasn’t fired because his impartiality was compromised, he was fired because he’s spoken out for the travelling public in London for three years. Labour AMs were settling old scores and going in to bat for the unlamented Livingstone.
BorisExposer says
June 4, 2008 at 4:16 pmOh yes, another overpaid, overweight, under-educated loser bites the dust. No wonder TravelWatch couldn’t resolve my complaint about the poor frequecy and reliability of the 93 bus. They were obviously far too busy preparing for the election campaign. This man is what is wrong with the UK – how can a man get into such a position running Travelwatch when the thick idiot can’t even get his policitcal allegiance right based on the mayoral election policies. No wonder the countries in a mess – we have idiots at the wheel!
Tom says
June 5, 2008 at 9:04 am“Brian Cooke wasn’t fired because his impartiality was compromised”
But his impartiality *was* compromised, and he was actually sacked for grossly breaching his terms and conditions of employment, sufficient that London Travelwatch itself was being brought into disrepute (by being led by someone who cared more about political side-taking than sticking to the rules governing his position). In particular he failed to consult the LT Chief Executive as he was required to do before engaging in political activity that would clearly be controversial.
I’d much rather be represented on an impartial body by an impartial figure than an open supporter of the current Mayor and I think you would too, particularly if the boot was on the other foot.
James says
June 19, 2008 at 4:11 pmHe was sacked because Labour can’t get over they lost the electon and they are blaming whoever they can.
The bloke issued a personal statement which he was perfectly entitled to do.
Cooke was done over with not a shred of evidence being produced that he did anything to question travelwatch integrity. I presume he will now sue.
Nick Biskinis says
June 28, 2008 at 10:00 pmHe would be ill advised to waste his money suing. Brian Cooke was in very clear breach of his conditions – he began his personal statement by stating he was Chair of London TravelWatch, and indeed kept referring to this throughout his statement. The entire Transport Committee, including the Tories, agreed he had breached the terms of his employment. Plus all TravelWatch members and staff had been warned by the Chief Executive not to compromise LTW neutrality in any way in the run up to the election.
Indeed I believe he had been warned when appearing at a Boris Johnson rally not long before the statement.
Whilst it is true that other LTW board members were involved in political campaigns for various parties, they did not put their membership of LTW at the forefront of their campaigning. Brian Cooke, as Chair, did link his statement with his office, to ensure his comments were given prominence in the media. And indeed, the Tories did use this.
Brian Cooke knew what he was doing. I think he assumed that the London Assembly elections would be a clean Tory sweep, and so gambled on issuing a personal statement that clearly showed bias whilst bringing London TravelWatch into the equation.
As it happens I don’t think he was a particularly good Chairman: LTW had last year a satisfaction rate of 57% (hardly impressive) whilst LTW met less than half the London boroughs. I have used LTW twice, and didn’t get a final response for 5 months in one case and 3 in the other. Under Brian Cooke, inner London was ignored by LTW, increasingly acting like a Zone 6/Home Counties watchdog, more Kent TravelWatch than London TravelWatch.
The future Chair should make sure LTW focuses on the TravelCard Zones where the majority of commuters into London are based, and leave the Home Counties to their own watchdogs