Council denies parking staff relocation plan is ‘driven by greed’

Westminster Council has hit back at union claims that plans to relocate hundreds of jobs to the north of Scotland are driven by “pure greed”.

Unison and the GMB union are threatening strike action, claiming that as many as 400 staff at Vertex, a company that takes payment for parking fines on behalf of the council, are to be transferred to Dingwall in Scotland.

Dave Johnson, national officer of Unison, said: “This is pure economic greed at the expense of hundreds of jobs. It is simply not realistic to expect hundreds of staff to uproot their families to live in such a remote area.”

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But Simon Milton, leader of the council, said the choice in this dispute was between the trade unions and the taxpayer. He added that 160 Vertex jobs would go to Scotland over the next 18 months, not the 400 quoted by the unions.

Milton said Vertex had made it clear at the outset that services may move, but said it would honour its commitment to keep a presence in Westminster.