Boss did not deliberately mislead

THE Canal & River Trust have claimed that its Head of Legal and General Council, Jackie Lewis, did not deliberately mislead the reconstituted Waterways Ombudsman Committee, writes Allan Richards.

The statement was made by Julie Smith, Principal Solicitor who is believed to be part of Jackie Lewis's department.

No meetings

In June 2014 narrowboatworld revealed that the committee which ensures the independence of the Waterways Ombudsman scheme had been scrapped (Waterways Ombudsman Committee scrapped) with no meetings held since May 2011. This despite a board resolution that it should continue.

It was subsequently revealed that the current Waterways Ombudsman, Andrew Walker, was not appointed according the the rules of the scheme. Indeed, CaRT have confirmed this to be the case.

In short, CaRT has been running a sham scheme!

CaRT's response to its maladministration was to state that a Waterways Ombudsman Committee would be reconstituted and to this end a meeting took place in February this year.

Sir Jeffrey Jowell

The meeting was chaired by Sir Jeffrey Jowell who chaired the last meeting held over four years ago. However, Sir Jeffrey is no longer chairman of the committee, as he officially stepped down in June 2012 having not chaired a meeting for over a year.

This did not stop Jackie Lewis claiming at the meeting that he was not due to step down until September 2015 (and, by implication, is a current member of the committee)!

Despite a request for 'Any resolution that would have allowed Sir Jeffrey to serve as chairman of the Waterways Ombudsman Committee after 30 June 2012', made over two months ago, CaRT has failed to produce any information that would suggest that Sir Jeffrey was empowered to continue serving as chairman after that date.

However, Julie Smith states 'I have seen no evidence to suggest that Jackie Lewis deliberately misled the Ombudsman Committee'.

Not really a credible response is it?

Degraded scheme

In the article Degraded scheme favours CaRT, it was shown how the February meeting under the chairmanship of Sir Jeffrey Jowell set out to disadvantage the public. However, whilst Jackie Lewis played a major role in this she was aided by Vice Chairman of the Trustees, Lynne Berry, who was also present at the meeting.

Mrs Berry must have known that Sir Jeffrey was not empowered to chair the meeting because she would have been party to any Board resolution enabling him to continue in office under CaRT.

CaRT have announced that it has replaced her on the Waterways Ombudsman Committee and that a new chairman has been appointed.