South Ribble Council's leader Margaret Smith resigns
The leader of South Ribble Council Margaret Smith resigns.
The leader of South Ribble Council Margaret Smith resigns.
In a statement, she said it was due to her ill health.
The Conservative leader's fellow councillors have been calling for her to step down because they're not happy with the way she's handled the taxi licensing scandal.
At a politically heated three hour council meeting on Wednesday night, it opened dramatically with the council reading out Margaret Smith's letter of resignation:
This comes after an independent report found the authority hadn't carried out proper background checks on taxi drivers and that allegations of child sex abuse were not handled sufficiently.
Councillor Colin Clark has been appointed unanimously as interim council leader.
A new taxi policy has been approved by council and will come into force.
Taxi drivers will now have to pass a test to show they can be trusted to carry young and vulnerable people and they must have background checks on previous convictions.
They also need to have child sexual exploitation training before they can be licensed.