Kingston Council has admitted it does not know how a maintenance company was allowed to do thousands of pounds worth of works without a council contract.
The council said it had changed procedures since it was revealed the Teasdale Group, based in Tolworth, was paid thousands for work that should have gone to its former highways maintenance contractor RJ Dance. The error was highlighted in a Freedom of Information (FoI) request by Kingston resident Nick Goss, who submitted a series of questions on the council’s payments to suppliers over £500.
The council’s response showed it paid former out-of-hours contractor Teasdale more than £2m in five years, including jobs such as installing road signs and railings. Mr Goss said those jobs should have gone to RJ Dance – and the council has now agreed.
Both Teasdale and RJ Dance no longer hold contracts with Kingston Council, after Enterprise Mouchel won the London Highways Alliance Contract (LoHAC) for the south London region, which started in April. A spokesman for Teasdale said the company was asked to carry out the works by Kingston Council after offering the cheapest quote. Kingston Council has previously apologised to both Teasdale and Mr Goss after claiming to have paid the contractor £4m over five years, officers having mistakenly duplicated payments.
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