Litter-fines firm goes into administration (From South Wales Argus)
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Torfaen and Blaenau Gwent litter-fines firm goes into administration
9:08am Wednesday 20th March 2013 in News
ON PATROL: XFOR officers in Abertillery
A CONTROVERSIAL enforcement company which hands out fines for littering and dog fouling has gone into administration.
XFOR Local Authority Support has been working on behalf of Blaenau Gwent Council since October 2011 and was brought in by Torfaen council in January to clamp down on residents who drop litter or allow their dogs to foul in public places.
Its enforcement teams, seven staff in Torfaen and five in Blaenau Gwent, handed out fines of up to £75 to offenders, with the local authority receiving a share of that revenue.
In the first six months of running operations in Blaenau Gwent, XFOR handed out 1,500 fixed-penalty notices.
Since January 21 in Torfaen, more than 250 were handed out.
But now the company has gone into administration, with some staff in Torfaen saying they have not been paid by XFOR since they started work on January 14.
In an e-mail seen by the Argus, operations co-ordinator for XFOR Kirsty Woddison said: “As XFOR are now in administration, the administrators will now be dealing with your salary payment.”
On the Companies House database it says that XFOR Local Authority Support went into administration on March 12, and London-based SFP group confirmed it was dealing with the administration.
A member of the Torfaen team, who did not want to be named, said: “They owe me about £1,800 in total since January in wages and bonus payments.
“We had to give out four tickets a day and for any over that we would receive £5-a-ticket bonus. Because we had to use our own cars people haven’t been able to afford to come to work.”
They said the team had given out 200 tickets in February, earning the company around £15,000, but noone had been paid.
Last Friday some staff received a loan from Kingdom Security, another enforcement company, to cover wages.
Kingdom appears to have bought XFOR Local Authority Support, though when approached on the issue the company declined to comment.
Independent Group leader on Torfaen council Elizabeth Haynes said: “It is hugely embarrassing for the council and it does have to make you question whether due diligence was done on the company.”
‘No money owed to council and patrols continue’
A BLAENAU Gwent spokesman said all necessary checks were made and there is no financial impact on the council, adding it was happy with the service XFOR provided.
He added: “We have been made aware that the XFOR Group has been acquired by Kingdom Security. The contract with the council remains in force and enforcement officers have continued to patrol Blaenau Gwent and issue fixed-penalty notices for littering and dog control offences.”
A Torfaen council spokesman said due diligence was undertaken in appointing XFOR, which had experience of local authority enforcement.
“Torfaen council is not owed any money by XFOR, as the contract means it is paid a proportion of every ticket issued.
“The contract between Torfaen council and XFOR cannot be assigned to a third party so we are currently considering whether a new agreement to continue with this enforcement trial is worth pursuing. Discussions with Kingdom Securities will take place in the near future,” he said.
Comments(20)
whatintheworld
says...
10:25am Wed 20 Mar 13
Before or after tendering for Torfaen's contract?
Did TCBC sign up a company that was clearly struggling?
Poolerkev
says...
10:47am Wed 20 Mar 13
Valrep
says...
10:55am Wed 20 Mar 13
manofponty
says...
11:53am Wed 20 Mar 13
WELSH BUDDAH
says...
12:44pm Wed 20 Mar 13
33Sunflower
says...
12:50pm Wed 20 Mar 13
denlexx3
says...
2:01pm Wed 20 Mar 13
Sevans84
says...
2:08pm Wed 20 Mar 13
Oriel Bufton
says...
2:19pm Wed 20 Mar 13
KarmaSuitsYa
says...
2:49pm Wed 20 Mar 13
Oriel Bufton wrote:Luddites - so nineteenth century.
What utterly GOOD News. Good riddance, I agree with TCBC, well said. Provide jobs for those that need them, stop paying Councilors exorbitant sums of money and spend it on the people who need it. For the same reason I won't use self service machines in Asda, Waitrose, or Smiths. They install them solely to avoid employing people. When there are so many people out of work, they care more about their profits than people who need jobs.
richie55
says...
5:52pm Wed 20 Mar 13
VoiceOfDaPort
says...
6:16pm Wed 20 Mar 13
Woodgnome
says...
11:00pm Wed 20 Mar 13
Robodad
says...
6:58am Thu 21 Mar 13
county mad
says...
11:55am Thu 21 Mar 13
Robodad wrote:Maybe if dads like yourself were to educate your children about litter we wouldn't need them. I walk my dogs and pick up after them and watch schoolkids lobbing litter like confetti also drivers hurling god knows what from their cars. Educate and enforce current laws its the only answer
I hope they find a buyer soon so these guys can get back on the streets and continue handing out fines to the scum and lowlife who throw rubbish or let their dogs crap anywhere and expect others to clean up after them.
MR DUDLEY
says...
4:52pm Thu 21 Mar 13
brainfreeze
says...
7:13pm Thu 21 Mar 13
Limestonecowboy
says...
7:34pm Thu 21 Mar 13
Robodad wrote:Well said!
I hope they find a buyer soon so these guys can get back on the streets and continue handing out fines to the scum and lowlife who throw rubbish or let their dogs crap anywhere and expect others to clean up after them.
beneve
says...
8:01am Sat 23 Mar 13
This shows laziness from the BG communications team and questions whether they are needed bearing in mind the 4.6% council tax increase
P C Neilson says...
10:21am Wed 20 Mar 13
I don't like to say I told you so, but I predicted this would be the nature of such a pathetic bully boy tactic. Good, The 'dog poo police' get what they deserve.
Let's have 'incompetent councillor' fines, to stop them fouling everywhere.