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Camden News - by RICHARD OSLEY
Published: 15 January 2009

John Meyer

Parking chief paid ‘£500 a day’ before shock exit

Insiders say he was among top earners at the Town Hall

THE parking chief who left the Town Hall amid council claims he made “errors of judgment” was one of Camden’s top earners and may have collected more than £60,000 in wages during his brief stint.
Several council insiders have quoted the figure of £500 to £550 a day in relation to the pay packet commanded by interim parking manager John Meyer who – as the New Journal revealed last week – made a shock exit at the end of last month.
He had been expected to stay until July 2009, but his initial contract was not renewed.
A council spokeswoman said: “There were some errors of judgment on his part that we believe were not compatible with the head of service role.”
The council stressed that no disciplinary action was taken against Mr Meyer and that an investigation into anonymous allegations about a parking permit issued to his car threw up “minor issues” but were addressed without the need for further attention.
While the size of his salary is not a record sum (an interim manager in another department netted roughly £830 a day in 2006), the reported sum potentially adds up to around £65,000 over six months.
Mr Meyer declined to comment on his time in Camden, referring New Journal queries back to the Town Hall, which in turn is refusing to discuss further details about his employment or sudden departure.
A council spokeswoman declined to comment on how much Mr Meyer was paid.
Liberal Democrat council leader Councillor Keith Moffitt said last night (Wednesday) he had confidence in the environment department to move forward.
He said: “I think it was felt that John Meyer did a good job in improving many aspects of the department, but it is a job which is very much in the public eye and a couple of minor things can be a problem.
“With parking, there will always be somebody who is not happy, but if you look at my postbag the number of complaints has dramatically reduced.
“People see that we have got rid of clamping and that we have done our best to make it fairer.”
Camden is currently undergoing an internal review to find out why it has made £4million less this year from issuing parking tickets than it expected to.
Memos showed that department chiefs had called on staff to think up “quick wins” to improve performance.
Cllr Moffitt added: “The money from parking is always volatile, but there has been no order from us to find other ways to ticket cars and bring in more money.”

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