One Week With John Gulliver - Congrats! Martin’s team pass difficult test
• CYNICAL as I am I felt the council’s decision to produce nearly 30,000 Freedom Passes for applicants in the borough would prove too big a gamble.
When thousands of applications had still not been processed by January it looked as if I was going to be right.
But I am glad to say I got it wrong – glad that is for Camden’s oldies who rely on the Freedom Pass to get around London.
The council’s 10-strong team handling this gigantic task faced a deadline that, in effect, ended this week.
And on Monday I discovered that only about 160 applications remained outstanding, and that there was every sign that these too would be processed and posted within a few days.
When it was decided to introduce a new system of Freedom Pass applications in the capital, Camden was one of three local authorities that decided to go it alone and process their own, using a company in Hull to electronically produce the passes.
However, while there are, I hear, thousands of the elderly still waiting for their passes in other boroughs, Camden has passed the test!
Councillor Martin Davies, in charge of the project, probably felt a bit surprised when I congratulated him for this minor miracle at a chance meeting at Hampstead Town Hall where former fellow Tory councillor Piers Wauchope was launching his book Camden, A Political History.
“We’ve got a very good team, and I think they deserve congratulations,” he smiled.
Admit it, I said to myself, he’s right!