Darwen ex-con was mini bus driver for vulnerable people

8:30am Tuesday 7th October 2008

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A CONVICTED criminal worked with vulnerable people for five months before bosses completed background checks which revealed his past.

Mark Standring, who served a year in jail for assaulting three police officers, has now been sacked as a mini bus driver for disabled and elderly people with Whitebirk-based Community Wheels.

Government rules state that anyone working with vulnerable adults must undergo a Criminal Records Bureau check before they have completed a month’s work.

But Community Wheels did not get the check completed for five months.

Bosses said the delay was caused by the bureaucracy of going through the process.

Critics have attacked Community Wheels, saying it was important vulnerable people were transported by people who had passed the checks.

Mr Standring claimed he had told Community Wheels ‘from day one’ about his conviction.

He urged employers to give people like him a second chance.

But Coun Tony Humphrys, vice chairman of the Blackburn with Darwen health scrutiny committee, said: “I am shocked that the company didn’t have a CRB check done straight away.

“As a local authority, we’d expect Community Wheels to carry out CRB disclosures as soon as possible.

"It’s just too easy for certain individuals to slip through the system.”

Pauline Walsh, chief officer at Blackburn with Darwen Age Concern said all staff should have relevant CRB checks.

She said: “We feel that it is important for organisations dealing with vulnerable older people to consider their policy regarding CRB checks.”

Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council uses government cash to pay for Community Wheels to transport elderly and disabled passengers holding a ‘NoW” travel card for free.

Community Wheels employs 12 drivers and is based a Glenfield Park, Philips Road, Blackburn.

Director Jim Coulthard, said: “If a driver has an unsuccessful CRB their contract will be terminated. In Mr Standring’s case, the disclosure took longer to come back.

”His contract was terminated as soon as we were made aware of his criminal record.”

Mr Coulthard said all drivers were full trained and had undergone CRB checks.

He said: “Our drivers are aware of the company’s standards.

“It just depends how long they take to come back. We are aware that CRBs have to be done, and we do our best to follow them through.”

By law, all people who work with children or vulnerable adults are required to have a CRB disclosure, which costs £35.

A spokesperson for CRB said: ”The CRB disclosure enables organisations in the public, private and voluntary sectors to make safer recruitment decisions by identifying candidates who may be unsuitable for certain work, especially that which involves children or vulnerable adults.”

Mr Standring, 50, of Birch Hall, Darwen, who said he was jailed four years ago for assaulting three police officers, said firms should not be giving people with previous convictions “a false sense of hope”

He said: “I worked as a driver there for five months before I even had a CRB check. When they discovered it came back unclear, they sacked me.”

Adam Scott, strategic director of regeneration and environment at the council said the Community Transport Association, a national body covering voluntary sector transport, was responsible for the support and regulation of Community Wheels.