Wednesday 8 February 2012

Paignton Level Crossing

Wednesday, second week. All the barriers and traffic lights are now in place and it looks like the work might even be finished ahead of time.

A government department has just spent £8 million in an attempt to recover about £5000. Does that make sense? If that money had been given to Torbay Council we would not have had all the cuts to care for the venerable and libraries closing and parking charges going up. We could have even given it away in the street to passers by which would have made more sense.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Then more council staff will have FREE CAR PARKING in all council car parks. Is this perk, paid for by council tax payers, declared for Income Tax and NI? If not WHY NOT?
David

Anonymous said...

There is a lot of misinformation about council parking permits. Most of the the arguments are based on envy. Consider that permits are only issued to essential users or casual users on council business. Why? Simple it's a perk of the job like any other perk. Permits can only be used during work hours and only at certain car parks. The council own the car parks so nothing is being lost. Would you expect teachers to pay to park at schools? Would you expect GP surgery staff to pay to park at their own practices. Moreover, it DOES cost money to reimburse business parking costs to staff in their pay (checking, payroll time, etc.). On top of that, staff are expected to use their own vehicles on council business. The 40p per mile maximum HMRC tax disregard does not reimburse staff fully for the true cost of using their vehicles for council business. There has been no cost of living increase in council salaries for the past two years and it will be 1% in 2012/13. Many council staff are also under the strain of covering work loads that have increased due to huge funding cuts. Council staff get parking tickets if they don't abide by the regulations just like others. Do you expect Stagecoach bus drivers to pay to pay on Stagecoach buses? Remember some routes are subsidised by the Taxpayer.Do you expect rail staff to pay on trains (public subsidy £4bn per year). No, they are perks, pure and simple. Get over it or get a job with perks yourself. And no, I do not work for Torbay Council.

Anonymous said...

Well said the second anon. The first comment is pure envy and what a sad and twisted person wrote that!