Westminster parking contract fraud investigation ...

Police probe parking 'fraud' at Westminster Council
BBC News
Police have begun an investigation into allegations of fraud against two senior officers at Westminster Council.
The case concerns the awarding of a multimillion-pound
parking enforcement contract to private firm NSL Services

Westminster Council denies any wrongdoing .

A Met spokesman said: "We can confirm we have received an allegation of fraud. The allegation is being looked at and we are unable to discuss it."

A spokeswoman for Westminster Council in central London said the allegations were unfounded.
European Union law says that contracts worth more than £156,442 must be opened to tender to any interested company and advertised in the EU's official journal.
Westminster's parking contract is worth about £13m a year.

It was previously being carried out by private parking firm NCP.

"We remain confident the parking contract was properly let
by our officers and allegations of fraud are completely
unfounded "
Westminster Council

But in 2007 NCP was sold and broken up into smaller companies.
A new firm, NSL Services, was then created.

It is alleged that at that point the contract was given directly to the new company without going through proper tendering processes.

Parking campaign group No To Bike Parking Tax Campaign provided information to the police that led to the investigation being started.

Chairman Warren Djanogly said: "It was my civic duty to take the evidence collected to the proper authority.
"I have had no other course of action other than to bring this matter to the attention of the police."

Mike More, chief executive of Westminster Council, said: "This allegation is part of an ongoing campaign by a motorbike protest group.

'Co-operating with inquiries'
"We remain confident the parking contract was properly let by our officers and allegations of fraud are completely unfounded."

Mr More said the council would fully co-operate with police inquiries.

A spokesman for NSL Services said the suggestion there was anything wrong in the way the contract was handled was "nonsense".
He added European rules on tendering of public services allowed for contracts to be passed on in this way, as long as the contract had the relevant clause.

"The contract with Westminster does have such a clause," the spokesman said.

Parking goldmine lures fat cat enforcer to Westminster

London Evening Standard
Simon English
01.12.09

In the lucrative world of car parking contracts, Westminster Council is the bonanza prize, the jackpot at the end of the rainbow. Around 600,000 vehicles come into Westminster's 8.5 square miles every day.

That's like a giant school of plankton in a small pond to your average traffic warden whale — open wide and ticket. There are too many cars chasing too few parking spaces and in the frustrations of an average working day, some drivers take a chance in the usually false hope that they might just be lucky…

The council itself says it's not legally allowed to make a profit from parking enforcement. Its “surplus income” from parking — £35 million last year, thanks very much — goes to pay for the men on the streets and for other transport projects.

For the firms running the enforcement deal, however, it's a goldmine, worth around £12 million a year. For the last seven years the contract has been held by NSL, the former services arm of National Car Parks which split from the main company and is now owned by private equity.

Now it's up for grabs. This week firms who want to bid for the right to be parking enforcer for the next four years — with an option for two more after that — have to submit their final proposals. In the running, I am told, are three firms: NSL again, Apcoa (formerly the Airport Parking Company of America), and Mouchel, a publicly listed company formed in 2003 from the merger of two engineering firms, Mouchel and Parkman.

A preferred bidder shortlist will be approved in January, with a decision taken shortly after. Mouchel is perhaps the most interesting of the three in the frame. It only entered parking enforcement relatively recently and has been making headway in winning contracts, securing deals in Newham (the so-called Olympic borough) and Hillingdon among others.

In chatting to officials about which firm might win the prestigious Westminster deal, an intriguing name came up. Stuart Lawrenson is, to those in the know, one of the most successful players in the UK parking industry — a fat cat enforcer, you might say. He is also the former chief executive of Central Parking Ltd where he was accused of misappropriating assets belonging to the American firm for his own benefit. Lawrenson resigned as a director of the company and paid £130,000, as well as forfeiting Central Parking shares, in settlement of the allegations.

In filings to the Securities & Exchange Commission, Central Parking blamed former managers of its UK arm for “unauthorised related party transactions and improper and inaccurate accounting entries”. Lawrenson is back in the game. I'm told he attended a meeting with council officials at a Westminster hotel last month to discuss the parking enforcement contract, allegedly in the pay of Mouchel.

I asked the company what role Lawrenson plays for them, and got the following: “Mouchel does not comment on the details of live procurements as these are confidential and commercially sensitive. Stuart Lawrenson is not, nor ever has been, an employee of Mouchel but works for a company that provides technology products to the parking industry. In common with other companies, we use some of these as part of our parking enforcement offer.”

Lawrenson has paid his fine and is perhaps entitled to continue his career. As long as everyone involved knows of his history, there's probably no cause for concern.

NSL Services Ltd - Who gave you permission to talk to the TV crew?

In the summer of 2009 a Channel 4's Cutting Edge film crew were given permission from Westminster City Council to make a documentary on the experiences of immigrants who were new to the UK and who became parking wardens (CEO's).



The wardens were allowed to speak freely to the journalist with the film crew, or so they thought.

Westminster City Council outsource their parking enforcement to a company called NSL Services, previously known as NCP Services Ltd.

One CEO told the film crew about NSL's unfair practices, and how Westminster City Council for CEO's to bring in high numbers of parking tickets (PCN's). This is undercover footage of that wardens interrogation on the 1st September 2009 at NSL's Westgate head office by Kenneth Henslip NSL's Head of Professional Standards.

The CEO was not allowed representation or given the minutes of the interrogation. The Channel4 documentary is called Confessions Of A Traffic Warden, was shown at 9pm on Thursday 19th November 2009

NCP Services driven into the red as debts pile up

NCP Services driven into the red as debts pile up
Simon English
02.04.09

NCP Services, the parking-tickets and car-clamping business owned by private-equity house 3i, has plunged into a loss after running up hefty debts.

Accounts just filed at Companies House show that the firm has accrued losses of £23 million, partly thanks to a £103 million debt pile.
It is paying almost £10 million a year just to service this debt.

A note in the accounts reveals that it recently agreed revisions to its senior debt facility, although the company strongly denies suggestions it was close to breaching any of its covenants.

The company was spun out of National Car Parks in 2007 and relies largely on contracts from local councils such as Westminster. It has deals with 60 councils at present.

Alongside the traffic-wardens business, it operates six London bus routes and runs a debt-recovery arm.
A new management team was parachuted in last year to overhaul the company, since when it claims to have turned in a strong performance.

Chief financial officer Steve Dolton said: "We have refinanced on excellent commercial terms. We have turned the business around and are looking to expand. The business is extremely solvent."
The company has just bought 17 new buses - a sign of its own confidence in the future, says Dolton.
Contracts with Camden and Westminster are up for tender next year, with NCP optimistic that it is in a good position to retain the business.
"I would say our relationship with our customers is very good," says Dolton.

The debt is equally held by Royal Bank of Canada and Lloyds Banking Group. Dolton says the banks are happy with the finances and are not applying any pressure for an early repayment of the debt.
A hedge against interest-rate movements cost the firm £2.9 million.
According to the accounts, the highest-paid director - assumed to be chief executive Mark Underwood - got £450,000 last year.
He joined the company last June from the Geo Group.
NCP Services was founded in 2000 to take advantage of the increasing demand for parking enforcement services from local councils.
It is majority owned by private-equity house 3i, while management has a minority holding.
Former parent company NCP is now owned by Australia's Macquarie Bank, which bought the business from 3i in 2007 for £790 million.

The traffic services business has faced trade union disputes in the recent past, with GMB in particular riled by what it sees as asset-stripping and profiteering by 3i.