In message , at 02:49:23
on Fri, 18 Jun 2010, remarked:
Meanwhile councils like mine have experienced real financial chaos from
this scheme. Not hysteria but reality.

It'll be OK now that your people are in power, presumably?

I doubt it. The pattern of affected councils is pretty all-party but the
changes were brought in by the last government which, to be fair
eventually realised its mistake.

And this government can't be bothered to fix?
--
Roland Perry

In article , (Roland
Perry) wrote:

In message , at
02:49:23 on Fri, 18 Jun 2010, remarked:
Meanwhile councils like mine have experienced real financial chaos
from this scheme. Not hysteria but reality.

It'll be OK now that your people are in power, presumably?

I doubt it. The pattern of affected councils is pretty all-party but
the changes were brought in by the last government which, to be fair
eventually realised its mistake.

And this government can't be bothered to fix?

They seem to think it's already fixed, I think.

--
Colin Rosenstiel

On Jun 18, 4:48*pm, wrote:

In article , (Roland
Perry) wrote:

In message , at
02:49:23 on Fri, 18 Jun 2010, remarked:

Meanwhile councils like mine have experienced real financial chaos
from this scheme. Not hysteria but reality.

It'll be OK now that your people are in power, presumably?

I doubt it. The pattern of affected councils is pretty all-party but
the changes were brought in by the last government which, to be fair
eventually realised its mistake.

And this government can't be bothered to fix?

They seem to think it's already fixed, I think.

To clarify (because there's the danger of discussing at cross-purposes
here!) I think some changes were made to the way the DfT recompenses
councils for free bus travel, which happened in response to concerns
such as those Colin outlined above. I should add I'm no expert on the
matter!

In message
,
Mizter T writes

To clarify (because there's the danger of discussing at cross-purposes
here!) I think some changes were made to the way the DfT recompenses
councils for free bus travel, which happened in response to concerns
such as those Colin outlined above. I should add I'm no expert on the
matter!

One of these days, someone (other than me) is going to realise that
courier services could be offered much more cheaply by the retired
hopping around on their free travel passes than by man+van who has to
pay for van, petrol, insurance, congestion charge etc.

The only difficulty is organising distribution centres - parish tea
rooms might appeal (I'm not being entirely flippant, by the way).
--
Paul Terry

"Paul Terry" wrote in message
...
In message
,
Mizter T writes

To clarify (because there's the danger of discussing at cross-purposes
here!) I think some changes were made to the way the DfT recompenses
councils for free bus travel, which happened in response to concerns
such as those Colin outlined above. I should add I'm no expert on the
matter!

One of these days, someone (other than me) is going to realise that
courier services could be offered much more cheaply by the retired hopping
around on their free travel passes than by man+van who has to pay for van,
petrol, insurance, congestion charge etc.

The only difficulty is organising distribution centres - parish tea rooms
might appeal (I'm not being entirely flippant, by the way).
--
Paul Terry

At least one travel company in my part of the world advertised for someone
to deliver tickets up to London and while I can't remember the exact wording
and I suspect they had to be careful about age discrimination it was pretty
clear they were looking for somebody with some from of rail pass and I got
the distinct impression they were looking for a senior pass holder.

In article , (Paul
Terry) wrote:

One of these days, someone (other than me) is going to realise that
courier services could be offered much more cheaply by the retired
hopping around on their free travel passes than by man+van who has
to pay for van, petrol, insurance, congestion charge etc.

I figured this in the mid 90's, but couldn't get a company to take me on without a
vehicle.

--
Paul Cummins - Always a NetHead
Wasting Bandwidth since 1981

On Fri, 18 Jun 2010, Paul Terry wrote:

In message
, Mizter T
writes

To clarify (because there's the danger of discussing at cross-purposes
here!) I think some changes were made to the way the DfT recompenses
councils for free bus travel, which happened in response to concerns
such as those Colin outlined above. I should add I'm no expert on the
matter!

One of these days, someone (other than me) is going to realise that
courier services could be offered much more cheaply by the retired
hopping around on their free travel passes than by man+van who has to
pay for van, petrol, insurance, congestion charge etc.

The only difficulty is organising distribution centres - parish tea
rooms might appeal (I'm not being entirely flippant, by the way).

I know a guy who's old enough to have his freedom pass, but still works,
as a consultant. He travels around on his pass, and so doesn't have to
bill for travel. It's probably not a big saving for his clients, given how
much he charges!

tom

--
When I see a man on a bicycle I have hope for the human race. --
H. G. Wells

Graham Harrison wrote

"Paul Terry" wrote

One of these days, someone (other than me) is going to realise that

courier services could be offered much more cheaply by the retired
hopping
around on their free travel passes than by man+van who has to pay
for van,
petrol, insurance, congestion charge etc.

At least one travel company in my part of the world advertised for
someone
to deliver tickets up to London and while I can't remember the exact
wording
and I suspect they had to be careful about age discrimination it was
pretty
clear they were looking for somebody with some from of rail pass and
I got
the distinct impression they were looking for a senior pass holder.

Which is only 1/3 off.

A rail pensioner with a privilege ticket would be a better selection or
(within the zones) a Freedom pass holder.

I recall a character in a Dick Francis Novel (Driving Force) who IIRC,
was paid rail fare as expenses then hitch-hiked.

--
Mike D

In message , at 10:48:26
on Fri, 18 Jun 2010, remarked:
Meanwhile councils like mine have experienced real financial chaos
from this scheme. Not hysteria but reality.

It'll be OK now that your people are in power, presumably?

I doubt it. The pattern of affected councils is pretty all-party but
the changes were brought in by the last government which, to be fair
eventually realised its mistake.

And this government can't be bothered to fix?

They seem to think it's already fixed, I think.

So we won't hear any more whinging from Cambridge City about the
unfairness of it all. Good.
--
Roland Perry

In article , (Roland
Perry) wrote:

In message , at
10:48:26 on Fri, 18 Jun 2010, remarked:
Meanwhile councils like mine have experienced real financial
chaos from this scheme. Not hysteria but reality.

It'll be OK now that your people are in power, presumably?

I doubt it. The pattern of affected councils is pretty all-party but
the changes were brought in by the last government which, to be fair
eventually realised its mistake.

And this government can't be bothered to fix?

They seem to think it's already fixed, I think.

So we won't hear any more whinging from Cambridge City about the
unfairness of it all. Good.

Depends where you read. In the right places you would have heard much the
same refrain from quite a list of councils.

--
Colin Rosenstiel