Lancashire County Council: Criminal Trial For Former Conservative LCC Leader Geoff Driver

What Is Happening?

It’s been announced that the former Conservative leader of Lancashire County Council, Geoff Driver, will finally stand trial in April 2027.

The trial is set to take place 14-years after investigation into the alleged financial irregularities at LCC began. It will be five years after Mr Driver first was charged with alleged wrongdoing. He will be tried along with three others, including an ex-County Council Chief.

The long-running scandal has had many twists and turns, including civil court lawsuits, witness intimidation allegations, the destruction of IT equipment and more.

The Crown Prosecution Service alone has spent over £1m on legal advice relating to the case since 2016. The Police and the Courts have not disclosed how much the investigation and related civil cases to date have cost the taxpayer.

The charges relate to a £5m tender awarded to One Connect Ltd. As a criminal trial is pending, commenting further on the allegations surrounding this tender and the charges before the trials could prejudice the case.

Timeline

• 2013 – Operation Sheridan, a police investigation into financial irregularities at Lancashire County Council and tender started.

• 2017 – Geoff Driver, the Conservative Lancashire County Council leader from 2009-2013 and 2017-2021 was arrested, along with three other men.

• 2018 – evidence in a High Court case alleged that Mr Driver and others sent emails to witnesses to ‘intimidate, belittle and undermine’ them. Laptops, iPads, iPhones and a desktop computer were found to have been wiped by members of the group.

• 2022 – Mr Driver was charged with taking revenge under the Criminal Justice And Public Order Act. The charges against the other three men include; misconduct in public office, procuring misconduct in public office and aiding and abetting misconduct in public office. In this year Mr Driver also took the Crown Prosecution Service to court.

• 2025 – it was now been announced that a hearing is scheduled for 5-weeks, starting in April 2025.

• April 2027 – 5-week trial is scheduled

Commentary

Despite the scandal, the Conservatives still lead Lancashire County Council. I don’t know what is worse, a Conservative Council with these allegations swirling around it and huge debt and deficit, or the fact that it’s taken 14-years of investigation and 5-years since arrest to bring this to trial. Either way, hopefully by 2027 both of these things will be done with!

Sources

26/4/18 – Geoff Driver ‘intimidated’ witnesses https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lancashire-43897436

12/2/21 – Geoff Driver stands down https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lancashire-56038824

23/8/22 – Geoff Driver among men charged in finance probe https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lancashire-62650424

10/10/22 – Geoff Driver v Crown Prosecution service court date https://vlex.co.uk/vid/geoffrey-driver-v-crown-913514773

26/3/25 – 14-years and over £1m to bring Geoff Driver to trial https://lancashire.thelead.uk/p/14-years-and-over-1m-to-bring-geoff