THE LV boss behind the sale of the 178-year-old mutual to private equity vultures played central roles in the Post Office IT scandal and the rollout of deadly smart motorways.
As chairman of the board, Alan Cook has played a decisive part in the move to sell LV to Bain Capital. LV members said they were ‘dismayed and bewildered’ that he was allowed to head a major and much-loved organisation responsible for the policies of 1.2million members.
As chairman of Highways England from 2010 to 2013, Mr Cook oversaw a push to change the design of smart motorways to place refuge areas up to 1.5 miles apart – four times farther than before.
A document produced by the government agency from June 2012, said: ‘By rationalising refuge areas savings can be made on a significant item of capital infrastructure.’
Yesterday, a former minister claimed this was against the wishes of the Department of Transport, which agreed an initial £2billion of funding on the basis there would be more regu
lar refuges for broken-down vehicles. Sir Mike Penning, a parliamentary under-secretary in the Department for Transport between 2010 and 2012, said: ‘We trusted them. The only people who could have authorised that to happen was Highways England. The buck stops with him [Alan Cook].’
Mr Cook was managing director of the Post Office from 2006 to 2010, when it prosecuted more than 200 postmasters and postmistresses for thefts and frauds later found to be the result of computer glitches.
It has taken over a decade for victims to clear their names and hundreds are still fighting for compensation. Several have died waiting for justice. The decision to sell LV to a private equity firm rather than Royal London, another mutual, is likely to ensure Mr Cook keeps his £205,000 job for another two years.
Chief executive Mark Hartigan, who was paid £1.2million last year, is also expected to bag a bumper pay package under the new owners.
Mr Hartigan, 58, is a former Army colonel who joined as LV’s chief executive last year, shortly before the sale process began.
Pensioner Clarissa Johnson, from Dorset, who has been with LV since 2011, said: ‘I’m dismayed and bewildered that LV, a very well established mutual, is being led by someone with such a chequered past.
‘I can’t actually understand how someone with his track record managed to become the chair of LV at all. The board has demonstrated they are not trustworthy. It’s a very sad situation. I’m very upset and will be voting against the deal.’
An LV spokesman said: ‘While it would not be appropriate for LV to comment on Post Office matters relating to Alan Cook’s tenure with them, I can assure you that he has deep sympathy for those postmasters wrongly prosecuted. Furthermore he is supportive of the recently announced Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry as it seeks to provide critical answers to everyone affected.’
version of article here Note: Daily Mail is seperate publication to Mailonline
TV series called Great Engineering Disasters featured building, bridge, dam collapses and failures around the world looking into the reasons why they happened. Embarrassing to see “smart motorways” and the UK government /Highways Agency featured on a such a program, which is broadcast worldwide, basically ridiculed by all expert contributors. Not one expert, some from the USA and UK, had anything to say in defence of smart motorways. Yet still, as you well know, the powers that be stick to the mantra that they are safer than conventional motorways.
Keep up the good work.