PUBLIC SERVICE CUTS

[Stanley]

The Yorkshire bank is still looking for a lease, cash point and one window boarded up. It makes the street look bad!

[Stanley]

Remember how we all thought outsourcing forensic testing was a mistake. Read THIS for evidence that we were right. Another 'money-saving' wheeze that will end up costing far more than the saving leaving aside to collapse of trust in the results. Another Tory policy blows up in their faces. Add teacher training, interpretation services and probation services, all in deep do-do!

[Tizer]

We said it would happen. Thinks....I wonder if I could prove that my £30 fine for being in a `bus gate' can be proved to be invalid due to faults at the company providing the service?

[plaques]

Manchester introduced a Bus Gate and Bus Lane system in the city centre. Prior to full implementation they had a 'learning' period so that the locals wouldn't fall foul en mass. The implication is that its OK to catch out the occasional visitor, currently running into the thousands, to give them a nice little earner.

[Tizer]

The Council claims that it doesn't profit from the fines, that all the money goes into running the system. I'd like to know who is contracted to do the running and how much profit they make. I agree with the idea of a learning period - they could have run one here where those caught out got a warning letter saying don't do that again or else you'll be fined £30 (it's a £60 fine if you don't pay straight away). I doubt that any would have done it a second time; but that wouldn't have suited the Council. The objective seems to be to fine people rather than deter them from using the bus gate.

My father got caught out by the local council when they changed the position of the parking bays for people with disabled stickers. A warning was put up - but it was on the new bays on the opposite side of the car park and nothing was put up in the position of the old bays. The exit for pedestrians from the car park into the shopping centre was next to the old bays. I complained in a shaming letter to the council and got them to agree it was unfair.

[Tripps]

Speaking of unwarranted fines I came across this situation recently.

Lidl (in some branches) have a new system whereby you have to scan your till receipt and enter your vehicle number after the till. if you don't then it's a £90 fine. Looks like guilty until proved innocent to me. Lidl parking.

There were no explanatory notices, and I was puzzled, and just asked the till operator what she had said to the previous customer. "It's to avoid a fine " she said.

"Man has never lived with a level of technology below that which is available" came to mind.

Take care Julie from Norfolk .

[Tizer]

That system of collecting fees for parking has dangers and sometimes fails to record the correct information. The parking companies responsible for it have no sympathy when honest people report that they did everything according to the instructions and still got fined. In one supermarket the check-out staff were telling customers that it didn't work and they'd probably get a fine. You couldn't make it up!

[PanBiker]

We said it would happen. Thinks....I wonder if I could prove that my £30 fine for being in a `bus gate' can be proved to be invalid due to faults at the company providing the service?

Tiz, you might want to have a look at this from the money saving experts site some interesting info.

Is the term Bus Gate legal?

[Stanley]

Why would anyone want to park at a supermarket where you stood a chance of being fined?

[Tizer]

We said it would happen. Thinks....I wonder if I could prove that my £30 fine for being in a `bus gate' can be proved to be invalid due to faults at the company providing the service?

Tiz, you might want to have a look at this from the money saving experts site some interesting info.

Is the term Bus Gate legal?

Thanks Ian. It makes interesting reading but I've paid the £30 - or rather Mrs Tiz paid it to make sure I didn't get myself into a situation where I'd incur the higher £60 fine! It's £30 spent to ensure a quiet life, it would be too complicated to fight the fine and we are just about to enter 3 weeks of intensive work at the new house - a week of tree & hedge felling plus fencing, a week of plumbing new rads and boiler, and a week of decorating. We won't need any more stress.

[Stanley]

Sensible attitude I reckon. Your time is worth more than that as well! Good luck with the programme...

[Tizer]

... Good luck with the programme...

We're all set for next week and have confirmation that the hedge/tree cutting and fencing are on schedule. We have a wood turner who will take the trunks of the cherry trees; he runs courses on wood turning and needs plenty of raw material. One of our neighbours wants the branches for his log burner. The rest will be chipped and will probably go for biomass burning or composting. Waste not, want not!

[Stanley]

Sounds like a major 'let the light in' campaign!

[Stanley]

Worth looking at THIS account of the report on the State of the Nation issued by the Social Mobility Commission and linking it to the effects of public service cuts which are undoubtedly part of the equation. Briefly, some of the worst places to be poor are the most affluent areas of the UK. It is a disgrace!

[Stanley]

See THIS account of a report from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation on poverty as it relates to pensioners and children. I trust the JRF implicitly and believe their conclusions. This reinforces my gut feeling that despite all the spin and hype around the statistics, society is slowly losing out on all fronts, even the most vulnerable.

[Stanley]

See THIS for a Guardian account of the latest assessment of the privatised parts of the probation services. As with other 'improvements' to public services introduced since 2010 in order to save money (it hasn't....) and introduce the benefits of the market together with devolving responsibility away from central government. I keep warning that I see society as being eroded. I am more of that opinion than ever.

[Stanley]

See THIS for the latest government Cunning Wheeze to fund the police and social services, charge the taxpayer! Yet another turn of the austerity screw and the continuing withdrawal of government from responsibility
See THIS also for the condemnation of government policy on homelessness describing it as 'an abject failure' by the Commons Public Accounts Committee. Question is of course, will such a serious warning have any effect?

[Stanley]

THIS report on homelessness reinforces the problem that is on the rise in society. It is expected to increase by 50% over the next ten years. The point was also made that the estimates are almost certainly less than the actual numbers because so many are not being counted. For instance all night tube services and London are increasingly becoming a refuge. This is a disgrace in this day and age.....

[Stanley]

I can't help a vague feeling of guilt in my comfort when I think of those not as lucky..... I can't cure the evils of this world and wonder how aware our masters are at this time of the year. It doesn't sit easily with me.....

[Stanley]

Despite austerity, I got my winter fuel payment in November and yesterday got news from the DWP that I have been awarded £25 cold weather payment because of last week's continuous frost. I am suitably grateful!

[Tizer]

But did you get your pensioner's £10 Christmas bonus?

[Stanley]

If I did I never noticed it!

[Stanley]

See THIS BBC report for evidence of the effects of pressures on the NHS. Not been put down to underfunding but it's not hard to see it as lack of resources. The NHS has been warning about this for months now and the government response has been that the 'reforms' already in place and the available funding will be sufficient. I'm afraid this response gets more threadbare as time rolls by. Time for a radical reassessment?

[Stanley]

I'm always banging on about the long term consequences of 'economies' in basic public services and this morning we have a perfect example. See THIS report about a warning of the rise in multiple tooth extractions in young children. It's almost certain that a major factor is the decline is the difficulty parents have in accessing free dental services. It's OK for the politicians to study their spreadsheets and look for ways of saving money but they are looking in the wrong place when they starve essential services of funds. We see the same syndrome in every public service. It has to end! Vanity projects like HS2, floating targets for our enemies, Hinkley Point etc are sacrosanct. Time for some drastic pruning.

[Stanley]

I highlighted the increase in reported violent crime yesterday and the opinion of the retired police officer that part of the reason was less beat and community officers gathering intelligence on the streets. He said that the inner city areas were largely out of control.
See THIS Guardian report on the decision by the CPS to review all ongoing rape and sexual assault cases to ensure that digital evidence is being reviewed by the police and passed on to the defence. This work is not always done at the moment because the police say it is time-consuming and they are short staffed. The government will of course respond with bullshit statistics 'proving' that funding is sufficient.
I keep warning that public service cuts are damaging society. How long before the government accepts reality?