Organiser felt he had to quit over festival fiasco

Sep 1 2007 by Deborah James, Liverpool Daily Post

THE events manager responsible for the ill-fated Mathew Street Festival last night spoke of why he felt forced to resign, as it emerged he has lodged a claim for constructive dismissal against his town hall employers.

Lee Forde resigned from his post with the Liverpool Culture Company in June citing family reasons.

His claim that he was forced out of his job has been submitted to the office of the Employment Tribunal Service in Liverpool and will now be processed.

Last night he told the Daily Post: “I made it clear nearly 12 months previously that I had grave concerns about the capacity to deliver the increase in events with the resources available,” he said.

Mr Forde, 49, who had worked for seven years for the council, is due to start a new job as a lecturer in events management at Chester University on Monday.

Last night Mr Forde said he had decided to hand in his notice after a family holiday in May when he had been preoccupied with work.

On Monday June 4 he resigned giving 12 weeks notice with a finishing date of Friday August, 24 (two days before the Mathew Street Festival’s start).

“I do not want to be sensationalise anything, I just want to set the record straight and get a fair crack. I feel frustrated and unhappy that I was forced to resign.

“I normally do between 14 and 20 events in a year with a staff of 12 people. The increase of the birthday weekend (800th celebrations and the Mathew Street Festival) was such that we needed additional people.”

“It’s not fully about Mathew Street. It’s about capacity to deliver the birthday weekend (and all that it entailed) and subsequently 2008.

“I know for a fact they are looking at that. Two and a half months after my resignation they are looking at increasing the size of the events team.

“Unfortunately if that had come six months earlier I might not have needed to resign.

“I was a case of ‘do I soldier on and destroy my life and career for a company that does not appear to be addressing the situation?’.”

He said he still believes that 2008 can be a success and said he hopes very much as a “passionate scouser” that it will be.

Last night, the leader of Liver- pool’s Labour opposition Joe Anderson said the revel- ation would pile more pressure on council leader Warren Bradley who is fac- ing a vote of no confidence from the opposition Labour group at Wednesday’s full council meeting.

Liverpool council last night said they could not comment on personnel issues, while City Council leader Cllr Bradley was unavailable for comment.

davidbartlett