Hamilton councillor resigns following expenses row

Feb 25 2010

A HAMILTON councillor caught up in the expenses row involving Strathclyde Partnership for Transport has resigned from the quango.

David McLachlan quit less than 24 hours after telling the Advertiser he intended to remain in his £11,163-a-year post as vice-chairman of SPT.

The SPT’s chairman Alistair Watson and chief executive Ronnie Culley both resigned last week as criticism of the transport authority over foreign trips the expenses paid to executives and board members intensified.

Councillor McLachlan, who is 47 and represents Hamilton North and East ward, has been one of South Lanarkshire Council’s six representatives on SPT’s board for 11 years.

On Thursday morning, he was called to a meeting with Council Leader Eddie McAvoy.

And at 1pm that day, in a statement issued through the council’s press office, he said: “I have today reluctantly decided to step down from the position of vice-chairman of SPT.

“I do so for what I believe are the best interests of SPT.

“Over the past few days, SPT have received unjust criticism which has reflected on me.”

He believes that complaints about his travel expenses will be seen to be unfounded once the results of audit by accountants KPMG, into SPT’s financial affairs, are revealed.

A council source said: “Davie had no choice but to resign.

“Labour holds the majority on the SPT board and Davie had lost the support of those members.

“It also unlikely that he would have got the endorsement of SNP members.”

Councillor McLachlan, a former long-distance lorry driver, told the Advertiser: “The way this has been presented in the media has made it look worse than it is.

“I think the amount of money I have claimed is, in some cases, less than that of councillors who only have responsibilities within their ward and, unlike me, don’t have to travel all over Strathclyde and, indeed, the United Kingdom, on SPT business.”

In the last three completed financial years, councillor McLachlan submitted claims totalling £17,544 for more than 35,000 miles of car travel.

He insists the claims were legitimate and authorised by senior SPT executives.

He was also one of three SPT representatives who travelled to Manchester for a business meeting on the day of the 2008 UEFA Cup Final there involving Rangers.

Councillor McLachlan said he didn’t go to the match and insisted that it was a “coincidence” that the final and the business meeting had happened on the same day.

Councillor McAvoy said: “I had a discussion with Davie and he decided to resign.

“He has done a good job in representing South Lanarkshire’s interests on SPT.

“The development of park and ride facilities in our area plus the plans to re-develop Hamilton bus station are in large part down to the influence of Davie on SPT.”

Ian Gray, who is SNP councillor for Clydesdale West and also serves on the board who run SPT, said: “In my opinion, councillor McLachlan has always been a hard-working member of SPT.

“I don’t know anything about the detail of his expenses and that will come out in due course.

“All I can do is compare (his expenses) against my own.

“I represent a rural area and I am on a lot of outside bodies, including SPT, and my expenses don’t approach those.”