Edinburgh trams inquiry: '˜Awkward' questions blocked by firm

Edinburgh trams inquiry heard official was barred from meetings over awkward questions. Picture: Jane Barlow

Rebecca Andrew told Edinburgh’s tram inquiry she felt she was “not being taken seriously” by trams firm TIE after it made complaints to her superiors following a project board meeting in 2006.

Ms Andrew, who is now principal accountant for capital and major projects at the council, described the experience in her oral evidence before Lord Hardie, who is chairing the long-awaited trams inquiry.

Questioned about the transparency of the arm’s length organisation – and its co-operation with council officials – Ms Andrew said there was a lack of both.

She said this dated back to work on the congestion charging project and continued throughout her work on the trams.

“There was not a systematic or proactive way for sharing important information with council officers,” she said. “Officers would pick up partial information from board papers or conversations with TIE staff and then ask follow-up questions.

“If difficult or awkward questions were being asked, senior TIE/TEL staff would complain to council senior management.

“I experienced this personally when, after attending a meeting of the tram project board, Donald McGougan was approached and I was requested not to attend future meetings.”

The inquiry, now in its second week, is examining why the trams were delivered five years late at a hugely increased cost and on a truncated route.

Ms Andrew, who was finance manager with the council prior to taking up her current role, also said she felt her concerns were not properly addressed by the board.

“I would raise issues one month and then you would receive next month’s papers and nothing seemed to have changed,” she said.

She also said the number of TIE officials on the board could “weight” decision-making at the meetings.

She also spoke to the inquiry about the council’s desire to bring in independent experts to carry out a thorough review of the project’s potential financial risks.

But she said this was met with resistance from TIE, saying: “I don’t think they were happy that we were wanting to appoint external advisers, or at least separately from ones they would have recommended that we went with.”