A LABOUR-RUN council has spent £100,000 in a failed bid to claw back £9500 in salary from the general manager of Musselburgh Racecourse, it has been claimed.
The dispute between racecourse general manager Bill Farnsworth and East Lothian Council (ELC) was due to be heard at an employment tribunal in Edinburgh last month but the case has been settled “to Farnsworth’s satisfaction” according to a source.
ELC – run by Labour with Tory support – had claimed that Farnsworth had been overpaid between August 2013 and July 2014 and deducted sums from his salary which he claimed was illegal.
During that period Farnsworth received the additional sums for duties he performed as a director of the British Horseracing Authority representing all British racecourses.
The East Lothian racecourse was formerly managed by the Musselburgh Joint Racing Committee (MJRC) which comprised of four East Lothian councillors and three racing industry experts from the Lothians Racing Syndicate (LRS). The course, which is on Musselburgh Common Good land but whose buildings are owned by the council, was at the centre of a long-running management dispute and is now run by another joint committee, Musselburgh Racing Associated Committee (MRAC), and is awaiting Chester Racecourse taking over its running.
Group Captain John Prideaux, former LRS chairman, said: “The conduct of various councillors has been irresponsible and scandalous. The final legal bill from this saga alone, which comes out of racecourse finances, will most likely exceed £100,000.”
An East Lothian Council spokesperson said: “While we will not comment further on matters alleged by a former committee member (the committee being the employer) regarding an existing employee, the claims being made are not correct. We can confirm that the private business of MJRC / MRAC has been conducted properly at all times.”
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