Shamed council chiefs launch hunt for whistleblower after secret sex abuse report is leaked
South Ribble Council in Lancashire under fire for probe that exposed their failure to act after taxi drivers were accused of attacking two schoolgirls aged 16 and five years old
RED-FACED council bosses are frantically trying to oust a whistleblower who leaked a secret report on taxi drivers allegedly abusing schoolgirls.
The investigation exposed the authority’s failure to act after a pair of men were accused of attacking a 16-year-old and five-year-old.
South Ribble Council in Lancashire failed to carry out background checks on local taxi drivers and did not carry out appropriate investigations into the allegations.
They allowed one driver to keep his licence more than a year after his arrest.
The Crown Prosecution Service dropped the case over concerns his young victim would struggle to give evidence in court.
That is despite police believing he DID commit the offences.
The report was leaked on Monday and has caused uproar throughout the Tory-controlled council.
But rather than call on the CPS to revisit the case of the accused driver, councillors claim chiefs are gagging them as they desperately try to identify the whistleblower.
A council source said: “It’s a farce, the council are trying to cover their tracks rather than seek justice.
“The police say they considered a driver abused a five-year-old girl. Yet nothing is being done.
“They should be calling on the CPS to revisit the case and find a way of bringing this man to account as the things he’s accused of make your skin crawl.
“Instead the council are have launched an immediate investigation to find out who exposed their failings.”
Since details of the report, which has not been made public, were published, councillors have been ordered to “keep their own counsel”.
The council scrambled a statement defending their actions, saying they “acted quickly and urgently to investigate these serious issues”.
But the 20-page report is still being kept confidential.
Critics are demanding the findings be released and blasted the council’s “cover-up”.
The council’s Labour leader Paul Foster blasted: “There’s a complete lack of transparency and you have to question scrutiny at the council.
“I believe most of the cabinet have to be publicly questioned on this – there has been an orchestrated cover-up.
“Heads have got to roll. Labour will be holding people accountable. This isn’t a political ding-dong now, it’s a serious situation.”
As well as the harrowing abuse claims against a five-year-old girl, the report seen by The Sun reveals a “vulnerable” 16-year-old girl penned a handwritten note saying she was scared the driver would try to rape her.
She was transported in taxis as part of a school contract between a local firm and Lancashire County Council.
After being made aware of the accusations, the LCC removed the driver’s Approved Drivers Badge which allowed him to transport vulnerable people alone.
LCC then passed the matter to South Ribble Council as the licensing authority.
Since the report was completed, two licensing officers have been suspended, pending the outcome of an investigation.
Coun David Howarth, the Liberal Democrat leader on South Ribble Council, said: “If these checks allegedly have not been carried out or carried out thoroughly, then the public are being put at risk.
“It’s very difficult to comment when you don’t have the full facts to hand, but then that begs the question why councillors have not had the full facts disclosed to them.
“It’s just another concern over the general governance of the council and I think it leaves huge question marks over the political leadership of the council.
“It’s all very well patting yourself on the back over the budget, but are corners being cut?”
A South Ribble Council spokesperson said: “We take matters of public safety extremely seriously and would like to reassure the public that we have acted quickly and urgently to investigate these serious issues.
“A fully independent review was commissioned by the council and since receiving its interim report, we have conducted a full review of all taxi licences, including checks on all drivers. Those are all now complete and no further issues have been raised.
“We will be publishing the final independent report, in full, once the investigation has concluded.”
The CPS said they are looking into the report’s claims the case against the driver was dropped on the grounds his victim would struggle to give evidence in court.
Leader of South Ribble Valley Margaret Smith declined to comment.