Turned away after booking Covid jabs on the web
Tories condemn ‘short term fix’ of interim council bosses brought in at huge expense
PEOPLE are being turned away from city vaccination hubs in Birmingham despite booking appointments online.
A number of people claimed to have booked Covid jabs at Millennium Point or Villa Park after receiving texts from their
GPs directing them to a website to confirm appointments.
But once they got there, they say they were were sent away by staff who said they lacked the paperwork and would not be let in.
The Birmingham and Solihull Clinical Commissioning Care Group has said the texts were not a scam and had been sent by GP practices.
But they did not explain how the mix-up had happened.
George Baldwin, 48, who has mobility issues, received a text but ended up being turned away from Millennium Point. Mr Baldwin, from Acocks Green, said: “A text was sent to me from my GP saying I was eligible for the vaccine and to click on the link provided which sent me to the NHS booking site. “This gave me the option of
Villa Park or Millennium Point provided times and dates when I could come.
“I clicked on the one for Friday at 12.50pm and received a confirmation text message back. “I drove to Millennium Point and waited in the queue outside for 25 minutes. I heard a couple in front me get turned away because they did not have the paperwork.
“When I got to the front of the queue, they said that without paperwork I couldn’t come in so I went back.”
Mr Baldwin told his GP about the incident and was told they had sent the link “in good faith”. Councillor Majid Mahmood said he had complaints from four people who had booked an appointment only to be told at a city vaccination venue that they were not eligible.
The Hodge Hill and Bromford Labour councillor said: “This has caused a great deal of anxiety, unnecessary travel and increased the workload of our brilliant NHS staff and volunteers who are involved in the mass roll out of the vaccine.
“I hope the NHS and other stakeholders can trace the origins of the text to stop this from happening.”
NHS England said invitations for appointments at Millennium Point were sent out by letter. A spokesperson for the NHS in Birmingham and Solihull said: “It’s not an error – the texts have been sent by GP practices.
“If patients have concerns about their eligibility for a vaccine due to their clinical condition, we urge anyone over 65 years old, or who is clinically extremely vulnerable, to come forward for a vaccination if they have not already been invited by the NHS.”
COUNCIL chiefs in Birmingham are handing over skyhigh fees to secure the services of a stand-in chief finance officer – running up a bill calculated at £310,000 a year.
Rebecca Hellard is on a short term interim contract which cost the city £155,000 for six months’ work last year – the equivalent of around £26,000 a month.
Ms Hellard, 54, has remained on the same contract for another year – with no sign yet of the council trying to fill the post permanently.
The fees paid are nearly double the salary the job would command.
The costs go to a ‘third party’ company, which then pays Ms Hellard.
Birmingham City Council has so far refused to provide the total value of the payments for Ms Hellard’s services so far this year, telling us the amount will be included in the annual accounts published later in 2021. Nor will it name the third party contractor to allow the Post to independently verify the contract details.
The Post also invited the council to explain why it uses interim contracts and to explain to city residents how they offer value for money but it has declined to do so.
The role of chief executive is also currently filled on an interim basis, though current CEO Chris Naylor is leaving next month to return to his role leading the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham.
The post will now be filled once again on an interim basis.
There have been seven chief executives in the four years since Cllr Ian Ward took up the post of political leader – and senior local government sources say this lack of stability at the helm makes it difficult for the city to attract the best talent to other executive jobs.
One former council CEO told the Post: “The failure to sort a permanent CEO is at the heart of this.
“Unfortunately, while this continues, you can expect more and more interims, more churn and more unnecessary cost heaped on the Birmingham ratepayers.”
Cllr Ward announced last week the council was not going to try to find a permanent incumbent as CEO until ‘at least’ 2022, after the Birmingham Commonwealth Games, saying the Local Government Association said there was nobody suitable in the market.
This week the city’s Conservatives group deputy leader Cllr Ewan Mackey described the council as overseeing “a never ending train of interims” and “short term fixes”. “Year after year we have warned of the unsustainable cost of agency and interim staff employed within Birmingham City Council,” he said. “Despite our residents struggling on ever decreasing household budgets, Ian Ward continues to squander our money on short term fixes as he can’t get anyone to commit to him, or the administration, full time.
“The lack of leadership and longterm vision has led to a never ending train of interims.”
Ms Hellard, previously finance chief at Liverpool and Bradford councils, has been working for Birmingham since October 2019 as an interim.
The annual salary for the job, according to the city’s own Pay Policy, is from £135,346, rising to a maximum of £165,798.
But council accounts show the interim contract that brought Ms Hellard here cost £155,841 for the period from October 2 2019 to March 31 2020.
The Post understands the contract terms have not changed in the meantime, and Ms Hellard continues to fill the post full time on an interim basis – suggesting the cost this year for her work will be in the region of £311,000.
ABIRMINGHAM couple killed a close relative after a bitter feud spiralled into lethal violence. Mazammal Mahmood Butt sustained a fatal stab wound in the car park at the back of his flat in Lozells around 3.30pm on Sunday, November 17, 2019.
The 27-year-old, known as ‘Zammy’, stumbled to Lozells Street where he collapsed. He was pronounced dead before arriving at the hospital.
A jury convicted Mr Butt’s cousin and brother-in-law Mobeen Shahzad of his murder, while they found his wife Sheridan Fitzsimmons guilty of his manslaughter, following a trial at Coventry Crown Court.
They will be sentenced on March 12.
It was undisputed that Shahzad, aged 28, of Osborne Grove, Lozells, inflicted the fatal knife wound. However, his legal case was that he only acted to defend Fitzsimmons, aged 29, of Conybere Street, Highgate, who at the time was heavily pregnant with their child.
Moments before the stabbing she had been fighting with Mr Butt’s wife Madihya Mazammal, who claimed Fitzsimmons ordered Shahzad to ‘finish’ and ‘kill’ Mr Butt – something she denied.
The court heard how in the days leading up to the incident, allegations and insults exchanged between the couples had caused ‘all hell to break loose’ within the family.
But the war of words was also the culmination of tensions which had been simmering for months.
The court heard how one major bone of contention, particularly with Fitszimmons, was that Mr Butt and his wife lived in the flat above the family business, Mazammal Halal Meats, run by Shahzad, with their rent and bills covered by income from the butchers.
In July 2019 police were called to a family fight in the premises, supposedly sparked by a row over Mr Butt’s standard of work.
But in the November that year matters escalated to new levels. Fitzsimmons made an allegation about Mr Butt which sparked a showdown confrontation between the couples in the shop on Saturday, November 16.
The defendant launched a mop at Mr Butt and called him a ‘b ****** ’. Mrs Mazammal returned the insult but extended it to her, Shahzad and their children.
The following day Fitzsimmons attended the shop to collect some meat.
But at some point she, her husband, Mr Butt and Mrs Mazammal found themselves rowing and fighting with each other in the car park. Shahzad claimed it was Mr Butt
who brought the knife to the scene but that he wrestled it from his grasp. He conceded he was still holding it and must have inflicted the fatal blow to his cousin in the ‘little tussle’ between them that followed.
But he claimed he could
not
remember doing so and that it must have been an accident.
Mortally wounded, Mr Butt fled into Lozells Street, his wife going to his aid shortly afterwards.
Shahzad and Fitzsimmons left the scene separately.
They were stopped by armed police in Fitzsimmons’ Audi in Alum Rock Road shortly after 5pm. Shahzad was immediately arrested. Initially Fitzsimmons was treated as a witness but the following day she too became a suspect.
AFUGITIVE fraudster who fled to Dubai to avoid a 10-year jail term is suing West Midlands Police for crushing his £200,000 Ferrari.
Brazen conman Zahid Khan, who has served no prison time after being found guilty of a number plate scam, lodged his extraordinary claim against the force on February 4.
Khan made headlines when he parked the supercar on the pavement by the steps of Birmingham Crown Court in April 2017 – it was later seized by police.
A month later Khan appeared in court to try to prove he had bought the vehicle legally – only to be told that it had already been destroyed.
West Midlands Police said the Ferrari was crushed because it had no valid insurance and was a Category B vehicle – which are officially classed as unroadworthy, meaning the shell has to be destroyed.
The 35-year-old was later convicted of conspiracy to commit fraud, perverting the course of justice and concealing and converting criminal property in relation to a numberplate scam, where he would register existing plates with the DVLA under his own name to sell them on.
Khan was later jailed in his absence after he fled to Dubai back in the summer of 2018.
He has also been hit with a confiscation order totalling £116,319 under the Proceeds of Crime Act and must serve an extra 14 months in prison if he does not comply with the order. While Khan remains in Dubai and has served no prison-time over the number plate scam, it has now been revealed that the millionaire is to sue
police over the crushing of his car.
Speaking from Dubai, Khan, 35 said: “I have now started proceedings against West Midlands Police for their unlawful conduct in relation to my Ferrari 458 spider worth 200k.”
Shortly after leaving the UK, Khan then posted a video appearing to show him smash up a £30,000 gold Rolex.
And just last year he filmed himself flying a plane over Dubai and stroking his pet Siberian tiger cub.
British police believe they have tracked down his bolthole and he now faces extradition back to the UK. With his time as a fugitive now
seemingly running out, Khan lodged his extraordinary claim against West Midlands Police for the unlawful destruction of his Ferrari.
A Notice of Issue was sent to the force on February 4 and the case is now with London County Court. A West Midlands Police spokeswoman said: “Zahid Khan has previously lodged a letter of claim directly with the force which has already been denied.
“We have now received notification he has issued proceedings before the court, we will respond to the claim via the court process in due course.”