Former Parks Trust volunteer claims he was 'bullied' out of role after complaining about Milton Keynes event

A former Parks Trust volunteer claims he was bullied out of his position for trying to help unhappy residents.

But the Trust denies his claims and insist a ‘formal and fair’ process was followed.

Larry Kavanagh lives near Campbell Park, where he says residents had suffered problems due to illegal parking, anti-social behaviour and noise during events organised by the Trust during last summer.

"We were thrilled with the great events happening there – it is such a showcase of all that is good in MK. Sadly some event organisers were better than others at minimising the impact on the local residents,” he said.

At the same time as representing his neighbours, Larry signed up as a Parks Trust volunteer to help at such events and also work with its education programme.

“At the end of the summer I was called in by the Parks Trust and sacked for kicking up a fuss about event parking,” he said.

"A senior executive personally conducted the meeting and I found their behaviour in the meeting rude, intimidating and unprofessional,” he said.

Trust bosses have not disclosed the reason for the dismissal, but say a “formal and fair process” was followed before Larry was asked to leave.

But he believes they were annoyed about a post he had made on Facebook, complaining about issues experienced by his fellow residents during the massive Reggae Festival weekend at the end of July.

"I’d raised these issues with the Trust using the event’s email address. My first email was unacknowledged and further emails were ignored,” he said.

A spokesman for the Trust said: “The Parks Trust benefits from the support of over 200 valued volunteers. We are very grateful for the work they do in the city’s parks. Their ideas, opinions and experiences help to shape our charity in many positive ways.

“Our long-standing relationships with volunteers are founded on a code of conduct which encourages co-operation, respect and kindness on all sides. Volunteering is not for everyone and sometimes it doesn’t work out. Asking a volunteer to leave is always a last resort but when it happens, a formal and fair process is followed. In this instance, considerable time was spent investigating the matter before a decision was made to part company with the volunteer.”

Larry has tried to appeal to the Board of Trustees against his dismissal but his appeal was rejected.

"The Chair of Trustees dismissed my representations saying there was no evidence of bullying and harassment… I’m staggered that a public body can receive a formal complaint of bullying and dismiss it after only speaking to the people accused of bullying.”

Larry has now launched a campaign to get the Parks Trust to reverse its decision. He’s even produced posters likening himself to Gary Lineker, who was taken off air for making comments unrelated to his work as a BBC sports presenter.in 2018 The Parks Trust was accused of using bullying ‘Mafia-like’ tactics against a small developer who’d parked on Trust’s land – a short stretch of gravel - near Passive House at Tattenhoe.

In a long and expensive legal battle, the multi-millionaire Trust unsuccessfully tried to commit the developer to prison for breaching this injunction.