A taxi driver has claimed British Foreign Secretary David Lammy and his wife Nicola Green refused to pay a fare of nearly £600 after he drove them more than 360 miles from Italy to a ski resort in France.
The driver said he collected Lammy, 52 and his artist wife, 53, on April 10 at the town of Forli near Bologna after they had accompanied King Charles and Queen Camilla on a three-day state visit to Italy.
But he alleges that Lammy 'became aggressive' when asked for payment after he drove some six hours into the night to reach Flaine, a ski village in Haute Savoie in the French Alps.
He had paid £800 and was asked for another £600 cash at the end.
1. Lammy paid £800 through GetTransfers.com, which contracted the cab 2. The cab driver believed he was owed an additional £580 on arrival 3. When not paid the £580, the cab driver drove to the police station (with the Lammy's luggage) to complain about Lammy 4. The Lammy's complained to the police about the theft of their luggage 5. The cab driver, after failing to get satisfaction from the police, removed cash from Ms Green's luggage
It sounds to me like it was an initial misunderstanding (I have no doubt the cab driver was sincere in his belief he was still owed money, hence his visit to the police). On the other hand, his removal of money from the Lammy's luggage was clearly theft, and hence he is being prosecuted.
(Edit to add: I would not be surprised if turned out that GetTransfers.com was the "guilty party" here.)
Not a very curious taxi driver, to fail to realise a major British politician was in his vehicle.
A taxi driver has claimed British Foreign Secretary David Lammy and his wife Nicola Green refused to pay a fare of nearly £600 after he drove them more than 360 miles from Italy to a ski resort in France.
The driver said he collected Lammy, 52 and his artist wife, 53, on April 10 at the town of Forli near Bologna after they had accompanied King Charles and Queen Camilla on a three-day state visit to Italy.
But he alleges that Lammy 'became aggressive' when asked for payment after he drove some six hours into the night to reach Flaine, a ski village in Haute Savoie in the French Alps.
He had paid £800 and was asked for another £600 cash at the end.
A taxi driver has claimed British Foreign Secretary David Lammy and his wife Nicola Green refused to pay a fare of nearly £600 after he drove them more than 360 miles from Italy to a ski resort in France.
The driver said he collected Lammy, 52 and his artist wife, 53, on April 10 at the town of Forli near Bologna after they had accompanied King Charles and Queen Camilla on a three-day state visit to Italy.
But he alleges that Lammy 'became aggressive' when asked for payment after he drove some six hours into the night to reach Flaine, a ski village in Haute Savoie in the French Alps.
He had paid £800 and was asked for another £600 cash at the end.
Bring them back in so that he can return them again?
Labour strategists must really believe the way to get the public to warm to Sir Keir is to present him as a kind of Tough guy Ultimate Cop who is solely responsible for law & order in the country. He presented himself as the only arbiter of justice when DPP, other than the cases that ‘never crossed his desk’. These sound like they’ve been written by someone who has just done some steroids at the gym
Starmer’s like Batman.
Both wore capes*, both fought for justice.
*DavidL will tell you it is a gown but it is a cape.
As Edna explained in the Incredibles: “ no capes”.
This is why I decided to not become a barrister, the uniform is boring.
Tomorrow morning, on what is forecast to be one of the hottest days of the year so far, I will be in court wearing striped woollen trousers, a shirt with a detachable collar and studs, a woollen waistcoat, tails, a court gown topped off with a horsehair wig. It’s a lot of things , including completely daft , but it isn’t boring.
You're in Scotland, though, so hottest is relative.
True, but I forgot to mention the white bow tie as well.
I hope you don’t feel sheepish about wearing all that wool.
In 2018 when Lord Sugar posted a picture he thought comical likening the Senegalese soccer team to beach sellers there was outrage from Kick it Out, Labour MPs demanded he should be sacked and he was reported to need to undergo unconscious bias training too.
Do people not need unconscious bias training for Jew hate ?
People like that must live in a bubble where SKS's studiously middle ground pronouncements on immigration genuinely is 'far right'. God knows what they'd think if they ever heard any opinions from the real world.
The reality of this ‘far right’ announcement which emboldens ‘fascism’ according to some is that net inward migration is now accepted in the hundreds of thousands a year not the tens of thousands and it is now forecast as being 240K a year not 300K.
Wow. True far right fascism 🙄
I don’t think he will care about losing Dr Shola. One of a bunch of tedious daytime/breakfast TV talking heads who will appear on crap like Vine and GMB to spout shit about any subject from an extreme POV.
The trouble is that extreme hyperbolic language like that does have real-world political effects.
It's why social media is so toxic. Words matter.
Not just social media, but TV too. Especially daytime and breakfast TV with politics slots to fill.
They want loud mouthed gobshites like Dr Shola because she can then be used to drive traffic and engagement for the media which in turn drives viewers.
Creaming the money whilst being totally inured to the consequences.
Lowe seems to have represented a strand of opinion that wanted to steer Reform to the right and he won the Musk endorsement as a result. Farrage strongly resisted this and politely told Musk where he could go (and Lowe too, far less politely.) By firmly rejecting any shift to the (dare we say radical?) right Farrage has gained more by this then he has lost.
Indeed: but the issue for Reform in attracting Conservative defections (which they should want to do), is that it helps when people get on with the Party leader.
If you don't get on with the Party leader, and get kicked out of the Party, and you get the police sicc'ed on you.
Well, it makes you think twice about jumping ship.
I'm sure you are correct Robert and that probably does explain why there have been no defections yet.
I just think If the polls hold on like this, we will start to get reluctant and very nervous Conservative MPs defecting anyway, on the basis that better 'pot luck' with Nigel today than 'humble pie' and the dole come the GE tommorow.
There are going to be some constituencies where staying Conservative essentially guarantees a loss, so you are probably right.
I'd be surprised if the Conservatives still had MPs in triple figures by the end of this Parliament.
But, there are 4 years to go and all sorts of events that could take place - so let's see.
Which is also why those people (such as our little HY) who imagine that anyone is going to vote tactically for the Tories against Reform are most likely pissing in the wind. Personally I’d vote Reform against Tory, if only to see the two-party and unfair voting system that we’ve endured during our lifetimes come crashing down.
No-one* should vote Con tactically to prevent a Reform MP, as @HYUFD says they will go into coalition together anyway.
* I would make an exception for Con voters in Clacton. Defenestrating Farage at his moment of triumph is worth some shitz and giggles.
Why would they retract it, while no fan of farage or reform everything establishment politicians have done over the last 3 decades confirms the allegation
For obscure reasons, I've had cause today to get in touch with Deutsche Bahn. I tried to find an email address on their website. Not only was this easy to do, but it turned out to be even easier to phone them. They not only told you what their phone number was, they were actually quite open about it. For most British companies you have to hunt their number down like a hawk after a rodent - it's there but they don't want you to know it. It's actually easier to have an English-speaking conversation with Deutsche Bahn than with its British equivalent. Whatever that is.
It's such horseshit. Even if they can demonstrate a lower customer services "overhead" I bet the brand damage costs more.
It's probably more that Brits don't want to talk to other people if they can possibly avoid it.
I had to contact British Gas multiple times recently and despite low expectations was astonished at how bad their customer service is. Nothing they were supposed to arrange ever happened, almost no notes of the increasingly lengthy saga were taken. They paid out £80 in compensation for the service being so shit.
A taxi driver has claimed British Foreign Secretary David Lammy and his wife Nicola Green refused to pay a fare of nearly £600 after he drove them more than 360 miles from Italy to a ski resort in France.
The driver said he collected Lammy, 52 and his artist wife, 53, on April 10 at the town of Forli near Bologna after they had accompanied King Charles and Queen Camilla on a three-day state visit to Italy.
But he alleges that Lammy 'became aggressive' when asked for payment after he drove some six hours into the night to reach Flaine, a ski village in Haute Savoie in the French Alps.
Given it would be on expenses , why was he concerned.
A taxi driver has claimed British Foreign Secretary David Lammy and his wife Nicola Green refused to pay a fare of nearly £600 after he drove them more than 360 miles from Italy to a ski resort in France.
The driver said he collected Lammy, 52 and his artist wife, 53, on April 10 at the town of Forli near Bologna after they had accompanied King Charles and Queen Camilla on a three-day state visit to Italy.
But he alleges that Lammy 'became aggressive' when asked for payment after he drove some six hours into the night to reach Flaine, a ski village in Haute Savoie in the French Alps.
He had paid £800 and was asked for another £600 cash at the end.
1. Lammy paid £800 through GetTransfers.com, which contracted the cab 2. The cab driver believed he was owed an additional £580 on arrival 3. When not paid the £580, the cab driver drove to the police station (with the Lammy's luggage) to complain about Lammy 4. The Lammy's complained to the police about the theft of their luggage 5. The cab driver, after failing to get satisfaction from the police, removed cash from Ms Green's luggage
It sounds to me like it was an initial misunderstanding (I have no doubt the cab driver was sincere in his belief he was still owed money, hence his visit to the police). On the other hand, his removal of money from the Lammy's luggage was clearly theft, and hence he is being prosecuted.
(Edit to add: I would not be surprised if turned out that GetTransfers.com was the "guilty party" here.)
Not a very curious taxi driver, to fail to realise a major British politician was in his vehicle.
Probably Albanian and used to celebrity globetrotters in the back.
A taxi driver has claimed British Foreign Secretary David Lammy and his wife Nicola Green refused to pay a fare of nearly £600 after he drove them more than 360 miles from Italy to a ski resort in France.
The driver said he collected Lammy, 52 and his artist wife, 53, on April 10 at the town of Forli near Bologna after they had accompanied King Charles and Queen Camilla on a three-day state visit to Italy.
But he alleges that Lammy 'became aggressive' when asked for payment after he drove some six hours into the night to reach Flaine, a ski village in Haute Savoie in the French Alps.
He had paid £800 and was asked for another £600 cash at the end.
1. Lammy paid £800 through GetTransfers.com, which contracted the cab 2. The cab driver believed he was owed an additional £580 on arrival 3. When not paid the £580, the cab driver drove to the police station (with the Lammy's luggage) to complain about Lammy 4. The Lammy's complained to the police about the theft of their luggage 5. The cab driver, after failing to get satisfaction from the police, removed cash from Ms Green's luggage
It sounds to me like it was an initial misunderstanding (I have no doubt the cab driver was sincere in his belief he was still owed money, hence his visit to the police). On the other hand, his removal of money from the Lammy's luggage was clearly theft, and hence he is being prosecuted.
(Edit to add: I would not be surprised if turned out that GetTransfers.com was the "guilty party" here.)
Would the cab firm sack the driver in that scenario? More likely local taxi trying it on over a tourist late at night shocker as happens every day across the world.
who would pay 1400 for a taxi, heicopter would have been cheaper. Probably no receipt to claim as expenses
A taxi driver has claimed British Foreign Secretary David Lammy and his wife Nicola Green refused to pay a fare of nearly £600 after he drove them more than 360 miles from Italy to a ski resort in France.
The driver said he collected Lammy, 52 and his artist wife, 53, on April 10 at the town of Forli near Bologna after they had accompanied King Charles and Queen Camilla on a three-day state visit to Italy.
But he alleges that Lammy 'became aggressive' when asked for payment after he drove some six hours into the night to reach Flaine, a ski village in Haute Savoie in the French Alps.
He had paid £800 and was asked for another £600 cash at the end.
1. Lammy paid £800 through GetTransfers.com, which contracted the cab 2. The cab driver believed he was owed an additional £580 on arrival 3. When not paid the £580, the cab driver drove to the police station (with the Lammy's luggage) to complain about Lammy 4. The Lammy's complained to the police about the theft of their luggage 5. The cab driver, after failing to get satisfaction from the police, removed cash from Ms Green's luggage
It sounds to me like it was an initial misunderstanding (I have no doubt the cab driver was sincere in his belief he was still owed money, hence his visit to the police). On the other hand, his removal of money from the Lammy's luggage was clearly theft, and hence he is being prosecuted.
(Edit to add: I would not be surprised if turned out that GetTransfers.com was the "guilty party" here.)
Not a very curious taxi driver, to fail to realise a major British politician was in his vehicle.
Who outside a few parts of London would recognise the clown. I would not recognise him if I fell over him.
A taxi driver has claimed British Foreign Secretary David Lammy and his wife Nicola Green refused to pay a fare of nearly £600 after he drove them more than 360 miles from Italy to a ski resort in France.
The driver said he collected Lammy, 52 and his artist wife, 53, on April 10 at the town of Forli near Bologna after they had accompanied King Charles and Queen Camilla on a three-day state visit to Italy.
But he alleges that Lammy 'became aggressive' when asked for payment after he drove some six hours into the night to reach Flaine, a ski village in Haute Savoie in the French Alps.
Given it would be on expenses , why was he concerned.
It wasn’t. He paid for it himself. And the driver asked for more before leaving with their luggage. The driver has now been charged with theft. Something the Mail (and indeed William) omit.
A taxi driver has claimed British Foreign Secretary David Lammy and his wife Nicola Green refused to pay a fare of nearly £600 after he drove them more than 360 miles from Italy to a ski resort in France.
The driver said he collected Lammy, 52 and his artist wife, 53, on April 10 at the town of Forli near Bologna after they had accompanied King Charles and Queen Camilla on a three-day state visit to Italy.
But he alleges that Lammy 'became aggressive' when asked for payment after he drove some six hours into the night to reach Flaine, a ski village in Haute Savoie in the French Alps.
He had paid £800 and was asked for another £600 cash at the end.
A taxi driver has claimed British Foreign Secretary David Lammy and his wife Nicola Green refused to pay a fare of nearly £600 after he drove them more than 360 miles from Italy to a ski resort in France.
The driver said he collected Lammy, 52 and his artist wife, 53, on April 10 at the town of Forli near Bologna after they had accompanied King Charles and Queen Camilla on a three-day state visit to Italy.
But he alleges that Lammy 'became aggressive' when asked for payment after he drove some six hours into the night to reach Flaine, a ski village in Haute Savoie in the French Alps.
Given it would be on expenses , why was he concerned.
Some expenses policies forbid paying anything in addition to the pre-approved expenditure to prevent various shenanigans. Imagine if it got out that Lammy was expensing way more than what the FO system deemed necessary.
All that does it make me want to back and defend Starmer.
Alex Phillips was defending him on Talk today, Tom Swarbrick on LBC yesterday. It's not the left rushing to his aid lol
Many on the left, and in the Lib Dem’s, won’t rush to defend him as they will agree with Dr Shola.
I dont think its many judging by pb. And even those that do struggle to articulate what are the actual words Starmer used that are at all offensive. Its hardcore committed Corbynistas plus some not paying attention to the changes brought on by the Boris wave.
No, but it isn’t just PB, but also other social media. Even Twitter which still has a very left wing presence.
The problem with social media like Twitter (and not PB...) is that everyone's experience of the platform is different, as the Lord God Algo Rhythm deigns what we see. For instance, recently I've been seeing a fair few blatantly homophobic and anti-black racist posts - and plenty more comments of that type. Hardly left-wing fare.
I know people will say "They choose it according to your preferences..." but I don't post on Twix, and whilst I have followed a few people, I doubt the people involved with trains, triathlon, planes, archaeology and architecture necessarily lead to those sorts of posts...
(Having said that, the 'For you' section should be renamed 'Elon Musk's poisoned mind').
A taxi driver has claimed British Foreign Secretary David Lammy and his wife Nicola Green refused to pay a fare of nearly £600 after he drove them more than 360 miles from Italy to a ski resort in France.
The driver said he collected Lammy, 52 and his artist wife, 53, on April 10 at the town of Forli near Bologna after they had accompanied King Charles and Queen Camilla on a three-day state visit to Italy.
But he alleges that Lammy 'became aggressive' when asked for payment after he drove some six hours into the night to reach Flaine, a ski village in Haute Savoie in the French Alps.
He had paid £800 and was asked for another £600 cash at the end.
A taxi driver has claimed British Foreign Secretary David Lammy and his wife Nicola Green refused to pay a fare of nearly £600 after he drove them more than 360 miles from Italy to a ski resort in France.
The driver said he collected Lammy, 52 and his artist wife, 53, on April 10 at the town of Forli near Bologna after they had accompanied King Charles and Queen Camilla on a three-day state visit to Italy.
But he alleges that Lammy 'became aggressive' when asked for payment after he drove some six hours into the night to reach Flaine, a ski village in Haute Savoie in the French Alps.
Given it would be on expenses , why was he concerned.
For obscure reasons, I've had cause today to get in touch with Deutsche Bahn. I tried to find an email address on their website. Not only was this easy to do, but it turned out to be even easier to phone them. They not only told you what their phone number was, they were actually quite open about it. For most British companies you have to hunt their number down like a hawk after a rodent - it's there but they don't want you to know it. It's actually easier to have an English-speaking conversation with Deutsche Bahn than with its British equivalent. Whatever that is.
It's such horseshit. Even if they can demonstrate a lower customer services "overhead" I bet the brand damage costs more.
It's probably more that Brits don't want to talk to other people if they can possibly avoid it.
I had to contact British Gas multiple times recently and despite low expectations was astonished at how bad their customer service is. Nothing they were supposed to arrange ever happened, almost no notes of the increasingly lengthy saga were taken. They paid out £80 in compensation for the service being so shit.
Not hard to see why they're bleeding customers.
I've had around £250 total in compensation from them in the last couple of years due to repeatedly terrible customer service raised across 4 matters. Far worse than any other big company I've come across.
Notably when complaining with the Ombudsman British Gas worked overtime to try to get the complaints closed without action (which required me to prove British Gas had lied to me and the Ombudsman in communications about what the issues were and the reason for complaint - by showing I had been told X, then they insisted this had never happened), but when it gets to the end of the process they don't dispute anything and put up no evidence whatsoever. They still would never communicate with me and I was left commenting through the Ombudsman, who at least seemed able to get British Gas to answer their communications - for example why they weren't providing the compesation they agreed they would.
It is very toothless however, as basically the minimum required standard for the industry is that they promise to try to fix a problem, not that they actually commit to doing so.
I don't expect good service, they don't invest enough in customer service for that, but it should never be that terrible. They drag things out so blatantly hoping to tire and frustrate people - there is probably a spreadsheet at their corporate offices on how many will push through to seek compensation, versus how much it would cost to improve by 10%.
A taxi driver has claimed British Foreign Secretary David Lammy and his wife Nicola Green refused to pay a fare of nearly £600 after he drove them more than 360 miles from Italy to a ski resort in France.
The driver said he collected Lammy, 52 and his artist wife, 53, on April 10 at the town of Forli near Bologna after they had accompanied King Charles and Queen Camilla on a three-day state visit to Italy.
But he alleges that Lammy 'became aggressive' when asked for payment after he drove some six hours into the night to reach Flaine, a ski village in Haute Savoie in the French Alps.
He had paid £800 and was asked for another £600 cash at the end.
Weak-willed Lammy can't protect his wife's handbag. How can we trust him to protect Britain's interests?
Coming to the Spectator this week.
Keep the bag with the money and passports in person not in the boot is a basic rule of travelling surely?
Surely the Foreign Secretary can trust GetTransfers.com?!
I don't think they ask for your job title. Most taxi drivers in the UK wouldn't recognise him, let alone stand any chance of recognising the Italian or French Foreign Secretary.
For obscure reasons, I've had cause today to get in touch with Deutsche Bahn. I tried to find an email address on their website. Not only was this easy to do, but it turned out to be even easier to phone them. They not only told you what their phone number was, they were actually quite open about it. For most British companies you have to hunt their number down like a hawk after a rodent - it's there but they don't want you to know it. It's actually easier to have an English-speaking conversation with Deutsche Bahn than with its British equivalent. Whatever that is.
It's such horseshit. Even if they can demonstrate a lower customer services "overhead" I bet the brand damage costs more.
It's probably more that Brits don't want to talk to other people if they can possibly avoid it.
I had to contact British Gas multiple times recently and despite low expectations was astonished at how bad their customer service is. Nothing they were supposed to arrange ever happened, almost no notes of the increasingly lengthy saga were taken. They paid out £80 in compensation for the service being so shit.
A taxi driver has claimed British Foreign Secretary David Lammy and his wife Nicola Green refused to pay a fare of nearly £600 after he drove them more than 360 miles from Italy to a ski resort in France.
The driver said he collected Lammy, 52 and his artist wife, 53, on April 10 at the town of Forli near Bologna after they had accompanied King Charles and Queen Camilla on a three-day state visit to Italy.
But he alleges that Lammy 'became aggressive' when asked for payment after he drove some six hours into the night to reach Flaine, a ski village in Haute Savoie in the French Alps.
He had paid £800 and was asked for another £600 cash at the end.
A taxi driver has claimed British Foreign Secretary David Lammy and his wife Nicola Green refused to pay a fare of nearly £600 after he drove them more than 360 miles from Italy to a ski resort in France.
The driver said he collected Lammy, 52 and his artist wife, 53, on April 10 at the town of Forli near Bologna after they had accompanied King Charles and Queen Camilla on a three-day state visit to Italy.
But he alleges that Lammy 'became aggressive' when asked for payment after he drove some six hours into the night to reach Flaine, a ski village in Haute Savoie in the French Alps.
He had paid £800 and was asked for another £600 cash at the end.
A taxi driver has claimed British Foreign Secretary David Lammy and his wife Nicola Green refused to pay a fare of nearly £600 after he drove them more than 360 miles from Italy to a ski resort in France.
The driver said he collected Lammy, 52 and his artist wife, 53, on April 10 at the town of Forli near Bologna after they had accompanied King Charles and Queen Camilla on a three-day state visit to Italy.
But he alleges that Lammy 'became aggressive' when asked for payment after he drove some six hours into the night to reach Flaine, a ski village in Haute Savoie in the French Alps.
He had paid £800 and was asked for another £600 cash at the end.
A taxi driver has claimed British Foreign Secretary David Lammy and his wife Nicola Green refused to pay a fare of nearly £600 after he drove them more than 360 miles from Italy to a ski resort in France.
The driver said he collected Lammy, 52 and his artist wife, 53, on April 10 at the town of Forli near Bologna after they had accompanied King Charles and Queen Camilla on a three-day state visit to Italy.
But he alleges that Lammy 'became aggressive' when asked for payment after he drove some six hours into the night to reach Flaine, a ski village in Haute Savoie in the French Alps.
He had paid £800 and was asked for another £600 cash at the end.
A taxi driver has claimed British Foreign Secretary David Lammy and his wife Nicola Green refused to pay a fare of nearly £600 after he drove them more than 360 miles from Italy to a ski resort in France.
The driver said he collected Lammy, 52 and his artist wife, 53, on April 10 at the town of Forli near Bologna after they had accompanied King Charles and Queen Camilla on a three-day state visit to Italy.
But he alleges that Lammy 'became aggressive' when asked for payment after he drove some six hours into the night to reach Flaine, a ski village in Haute Savoie in the French Alps.
He had paid £800 and was asked for another £600 cash at the end.
Pretty mad for a thief to go directly to a police station and report a theft
I don't want to get into the legality or otherwise of this....however am I the only one that thinks booking a 600 taxi ride is odd?
I've paid for insanely expensive taxi rides two or three times, and it's usually been because there's been no other option.
For example: I was once diverted to Atlanta, due to weather and landed there at 8pm. The problem was that I needed to be in Pensacola the next morning for a 9am meeting that was not missable (and this was before Zoom). So, I paid an insane amount of money to get someone to drive me 300 or so miles.
Another time, I had a package holiday booked and work interfered and I wasn't going to be there at the start of the trip, so I needed to get a taxi a ridiculous distance.
A taxi driver has claimed British Foreign Secretary David Lammy and his wife Nicola Green refused to pay a fare of nearly £600 after he drove them more than 360 miles from Italy to a ski resort in France.
The driver said he collected Lammy, 52 and his artist wife, 53, on April 10 at the town of Forli near Bologna after they had accompanied King Charles and Queen Camilla on a three-day state visit to Italy.
But he alleges that Lammy 'became aggressive' when asked for payment after he drove some six hours into the night to reach Flaine, a ski village in Haute Savoie in the French Alps.
He had paid £800 and was asked for another £600 cash at the end.
Pretty mad for a thief to go directly to a police station and report a theft
I suspect it was a misunderstanding, and then the taxi driver decided to take things into his own hands, which is where he crossed the line.
It's also entirely possible that GetTransfers.com advertised the job to taxi drivers as "£1,400: £800 base fare plus expected £600 tip".
And then advertised it to Lammy as "£800, tipping entirely at customer's discretion".
Just hire a car. Almost always the best answer
For a ski resort? Tough, because there likely won't be an Avis office there. So, you are stuck with a car you won't use for a week, which makes the taxi probably cheaper.
The right answer was probably to rent a car and drive 90% of the way there, and then get a taxi for the last 10%. But that's a bunch of hassle, and it'll still cost you a ton of money.
A taxi driver has claimed British Foreign Secretary David Lammy and his wife Nicola Green refused to pay a fare of nearly £600 after he drove them more than 360 miles from Italy to a ski resort in France.
The driver said he collected Lammy, 52 and his artist wife, 53, on April 10 at the town of Forli near Bologna after they had accompanied King Charles and Queen Camilla on a three-day state visit to Italy.
But he alleges that Lammy 'became aggressive' when asked for payment after he drove some six hours into the night to reach Flaine, a ski village in Haute Savoie in the French Alps.
He had paid £800 and was asked for another £600 cash at the end.
Pretty mad for a thief to go directly to a police station and report a theft
I don't want to get into the legality or otherwise of this....however am I the only one that thinks booking a 600 taxi ride is odd?
I've paid for insanely expensive taxi rides two or three times, and it's usually been because there's been no other option.
For example: I was once diverted to Atlanta, due to weather and landed there at 8pm. The problem was that I needed to be in Pensacola the next morning for a 9am meeting that was not missable (and this was before Zoom). So, I paid an insane amount of money to get someone to drive me 300 or so miles.
Another time, I had a package holiday booked and work interfered and I wasn't going to be there at the start of the trip, so I needed to get a taxi a ridiculous distance.
I would expect flights from france to italy to be fairly cheap and a lot shorter than 6 hours ...if on holiday i cant see the urgency of having to be somewhere. Sounds more like someone completely out of touch with how most live than anything
A taxi driver has claimed British Foreign Secretary David Lammy and his wife Nicola Green refused to pay a fare of nearly £600 after he drove them more than 360 miles from Italy to a ski resort in France.
The driver said he collected Lammy, 52 and his artist wife, 53, on April 10 at the town of Forli near Bologna after they had accompanied King Charles and Queen Camilla on a three-day state visit to Italy.
But he alleges that Lammy 'became aggressive' when asked for payment after he drove some six hours into the night to reach Flaine, a ski village in Haute Savoie in the French Alps.
He had paid £800 and was asked for another £600 cash at the end.
A taxi driver has claimed British Foreign Secretary David Lammy and his wife Nicola Green refused to pay a fare of nearly £600 after he drove them more than 360 miles from Italy to a ski resort in France.
The driver said he collected Lammy, 52 and his artist wife, 53, on April 10 at the town of Forli near Bologna after they had accompanied King Charles and Queen Camilla on a three-day state visit to Italy.
But he alleges that Lammy 'became aggressive' when asked for payment after he drove some six hours into the night to reach Flaine, a ski village in Haute Savoie in the French Alps.
He had paid £800 and was asked for another £600 cash at the end.
A taxi driver has claimed British Foreign Secretary David Lammy and his wife Nicola Green refused to pay a fare of nearly £600 after he drove them more than 360 miles from Italy to a ski resort in France.
The driver said he collected Lammy, 52 and his artist wife, 53, on April 10 at the town of Forli near Bologna after they had accompanied King Charles and Queen Camilla on a three-day state visit to Italy.
But he alleges that Lammy 'became aggressive' when asked for payment after he drove some six hours into the night to reach Flaine, a ski village in Haute Savoie in the French Alps.
Given it would be on expenses , why was he concerned.
Some expenses policies forbid paying anything in addition to the pre-approved expenditure to prevent various shenanigans. Imagine if it got out that Lammy was expensing way more than what the FO system deemed necessary.
MP@S , you have to be kidding they can claim almost anything and it is in the rules
A taxi driver has claimed British Foreign Secretary David Lammy and his wife Nicola Green refused to pay a fare of nearly £600 after he drove them more than 360 miles from Italy to a ski resort in France.
The driver said he collected Lammy, 52 and his artist wife, 53, on April 10 at the town of Forli near Bologna after they had accompanied King Charles and Queen Camilla on a three-day state visit to Italy.
But he alleges that Lammy 'became aggressive' when asked for payment after he drove some six hours into the night to reach Flaine, a ski village in Haute Savoie in the French Alps.
He had paid £800 and was asked for another £600 cash at the end.
Pretty mad for a thief to go directly to a police station and report a theft
I don't want to get into the legality or otherwise of this....however am I the only one that thinks booking a 600 taxi ride is odd?
Not if transporting someone with SEND to school.
Well still don't understand why they need taxis frankly
The identification of those with a need for transportation has exploded, probably beyond reasonable levels, and local authorities don't have the resources to do it but legally may have no choice. Taxis are often the only remaining option.
But don't worry, like social care the problem will be probably be reported on in years to come and acted on in 10.
A taxi driver has claimed British Foreign Secretary David Lammy and his wife Nicola Green refused to pay a fare of nearly £600 after he drove them more than 360 miles from Italy to a ski resort in France.
The driver said he collected Lammy, 52 and his artist wife, 53, on April 10 at the town of Forli near Bologna after they had accompanied King Charles and Queen Camilla on a three-day state visit to Italy.
But he alleges that Lammy 'became aggressive' when asked for payment after he drove some six hours into the night to reach Flaine, a ski village in Haute Savoie in the French Alps.
Given it would be on expenses , why was he concerned.
Some expenses policies forbid paying anything in addition to the pre-approved expenditure to prevent various shenanigans. Imagine if it got out that Lammy was expensing way more than what the FO system deemed necessary.
MP@S , you have to be kidding they can claim almost anything and it is in the rules
Not only that they exempt themselves from most tax rules for benefit in kind rules the rest of us have to work with.
Your company pays your accomodation you get taxed on it....not mps Your company pays your travel to work you get taxed on it ....not mps etc
One of my controversial opinions is MPs should be paid more but not get any expenses. Just not worth the hassle of argument of what can and cannot be claimed, given the political impacts.
For obscure reasons, I've had cause today to get in touch with Deutsche Bahn. I tried to find an email address on their website. Not only was this easy to do, but it turned out to be even easier to phone them. They not only told you what their phone number was, they were actually quite open about it. For most British companies you have to hunt their number down like a hawk after a rodent - it's there but they don't want you to know it. It's actually easier to have an English-speaking conversation with Deutsche Bahn than with its British equivalent. Whatever that is.
It's such horseshit. Even if they can demonstrate a lower customer services "overhead" I bet the brand damage costs more.
It's probably more that Brits don't want to talk to other people if they can possibly avoid it.
I had to contact British Gas multiple times recently and despite low expectations was astonished at how bad their customer service is. Nothing they were supposed to arrange ever happened, almost no notes of the increasingly lengthy saga were taken. They paid out £80 in compensation for the service being so shit.
A taxi driver has claimed British Foreign Secretary David Lammy and his wife Nicola Green refused to pay a fare of nearly £600 after he drove them more than 360 miles from Italy to a ski resort in France.
The driver said he collected Lammy, 52 and his artist wife, 53, on April 10 at the town of Forli near Bologna after they had accompanied King Charles and Queen Camilla on a three-day state visit to Italy.
But he alleges that Lammy 'became aggressive' when asked for payment after he drove some six hours into the night to reach Flaine, a ski village in Haute Savoie in the French Alps.
Given it would be on expenses , why was he concerned.
A taxi driver has claimed British Foreign Secretary David Lammy and his wife Nicola Green refused to pay a fare of nearly £600 after he drove them more than 360 miles from Italy to a ski resort in France.
The driver said he collected Lammy, 52 and his artist wife, 53, on April 10 at the town of Forli near Bologna after they had accompanied King Charles and Queen Camilla on a three-day state visit to Italy.
But he alleges that Lammy 'became aggressive' when asked for payment after he drove some six hours into the night to reach Flaine, a ski village in Haute Savoie in the French Alps.
He had paid £800 and was asked for another £600 cash at the end.
Pretty mad for a thief to go directly to a police station and report a theft
I don't want to get into the legality or otherwise of this....however am I the only one that thinks booking a 600 taxi ride is odd?
I've paid for insanely expensive taxi rides two or three times, and it's usually been because there's been no other option.
For example: I was once diverted to Atlanta, due to weather and landed there at 8pm. The problem was that I needed to be in Pensacola the next morning for a 9am meeting that was not missable (and this was before Zoom). So, I paid an insane amount of money to get someone to drive me 300 or so miles.
Another time, I had a package holiday booked and work interfered and I wasn't going to be there at the start of the trip, so I needed to get a taxi a ridiculous distance.
I would expect flights from france to italy to be fairly cheap and a lot shorter than 6 hours ...if on holiday i cant see the urgency of having to be somewhere. Sounds more like someone completely out of touch with how most live than anything
Flaine is two and a half hours from Lyon, and there's only one direct flight a day (five days a week) from Bologna to Lyon.
So, I suspect a taxi was the easiest way to get there.
A taxi driver has claimed British Foreign Secretary David Lammy and his wife Nicola Green refused to pay a fare of nearly £600 after he drove them more than 360 miles from Italy to a ski resort in France.
The driver said he collected Lammy, 52 and his artist wife, 53, on April 10 at the town of Forli near Bologna after they had accompanied King Charles and Queen Camilla on a three-day state visit to Italy.
But he alleges that Lammy 'became aggressive' when asked for payment after he drove some six hours into the night to reach Flaine, a ski village in Haute Savoie in the French Alps.
He had paid £800 and was asked for another £600 cash at the end.
Pretty mad for a thief to go directly to a police station and report a theft
I don't want to get into the legality or otherwise of this....however am I the only one that thinks booking a 600 taxi ride is odd?
Not if transporting someone with SEND to school.
Well still don't understand why they need taxis frankly
The identification of those with a need for transportation has exploded, probably beyond reasonable levels, and local authorities don't have the resources to do it but legally may have no choice. Taxis are often the only remaining option.
But don't worry, like social care the problem will be probably be reported on in years to come and acted on in 10.
I understand the need for transportation I just dont understand the need to do it by taxi probably the most expensive way to do it.
For obscure reasons, I've had cause today to get in touch with Deutsche Bahn. I tried to find an email address on their website. Not only was this easy to do, but it turned out to be even easier to phone them. They not only told you what their phone number was, they were actually quite open about it. For most British companies you have to hunt their number down like a hawk after a rodent - it's there but they don't want you to know it. It's actually easier to have an English-speaking conversation with Deutsche Bahn than with its British equivalent. Whatever that is.
It's such horseshit. Even if they can demonstrate a lower customer services "overhead" I bet the brand damage costs more.
It's probably more that Brits don't want to talk to other people if they can possibly avoid it.
I had to contact British Gas multiple times recently and despite low expectations was astonished at how bad their customer service is. Nothing they were supposed to arrange ever happened, almost no notes of the increasingly lengthy saga were taken. They paid out £80 in compensation for the service being so shit.
Not hard to see why they're bleeding customers.
They once made me physically tremble.
I had my hands shake I was so furious with someone recently. I'd always thought that was a myth.
I am sure there will be reasons and excuses why everyone else can't do it but First Direct is different.
You call a number and someone picks up the phone.
Octopus Energy are also an example of where it can be done. And that was my main motivation in switching to them. The hours that I've wasted on hold to other suppliers...
Hello again thread. Just calling in from the Victoria Tap, Manchester. Just been for a walk around some of Salford's new developments. They're quite striking. New good quality homes within walking distance of the city centre. Green and pleasant. They feel Dutch. If you peer in the windows they're quite swish inside. I find it surprising that middle class people are living in inner Salford. If you knew inner Manchester and inner Salford in the 90s - or even in the 00s - you would too. These streets are a little incongruous at the moment - but there is a massive SRF to the east (Strangeways) where the lowest value land uses will be cleared away and replaced - on past form by something good ; and perhaps along with the continued strengthening of the city centre and the gradual gentrification westwards and northwards in - what? - ten years time this will look like the norm - like it was always like this?
Whatever else is happening in the UK, something is going right - or something close to it - here.
A taxi driver has claimed British Foreign Secretary David Lammy and his wife Nicola Green refused to pay a fare of nearly £600 after he drove them more than 360 miles from Italy to a ski resort in France.
The driver said he collected Lammy, 52 and his artist wife, 53, on April 10 at the town of Forli near Bologna after they had accompanied King Charles and Queen Camilla on a three-day state visit to Italy.
But he alleges that Lammy 'became aggressive' when asked for payment after he drove some six hours into the night to reach Flaine, a ski village in Haute Savoie in the French Alps.
He had paid £800 and was asked for another £600 cash at the end.
Pretty mad for a thief to go directly to a police station and report a theft
I don't want to get into the legality or otherwise of this....however am I the only one that thinks booking a 600 taxi ride is odd?
I've paid for insanely expensive taxi rides two or three times, and it's usually been because there's been no other option.
For example: I was once diverted to Atlanta, due to weather and landed there at 8pm. The problem was that I needed to be in Pensacola the next morning for a 9am meeting that was not missable (and this was before Zoom). So, I paid an insane amount of money to get someone to drive me 300 or so miles.
Another time, I had a package holiday booked and work interfered and I wasn't going to be there at the start of the trip, so I needed to get a taxi a ridiculous distance.
I would expect flights from france to italy to be fairly cheap and a lot shorter than 6 hours ...if on holiday i cant see the urgency of having to be somewhere. Sounds more like someone completely out of touch with how most live than anything
Flaine is two and a half hours from Lyon, and there's only one direct flight a day (five days a week) from Bologna to Lyon.
So, I suspect a taxi was the easiest way to get there.
(Source: ChatGPT + Google Maps!)
And the urgency to get to flaine was? Would it have mattered if they just got the next flight?
A taxi driver has claimed British Foreign Secretary David Lammy and his wife Nicola Green refused to pay a fare of nearly £600 after he drove them more than 360 miles from Italy to a ski resort in France.
The driver said he collected Lammy, 52 and his artist wife, 53, on April 10 at the town of Forli near Bologna after they had accompanied King Charles and Queen Camilla on a three-day state visit to Italy.
But he alleges that Lammy 'became aggressive' when asked for payment after he drove some six hours into the night to reach Flaine, a ski village in Haute Savoie in the French Alps.
He had paid £800 and was asked for another £600 cash at the end.
Pretty mad for a thief to go directly to a police station and report a theft
I don't want to get into the legality or otherwise of this....however am I the only one that thinks booking a 600 taxi ride is odd?
Not if transporting someone with SEND to school.
Well still don't understand why they need taxis frankly
The identification of those with a need for transportation has exploded, probably beyond reasonable levels, and local authorities don't have the resources to do it but legally may have no choice. Taxis are often the only remaining option.
But don't worry, like social care the problem will be probably be reported on in years to come and acted on in 10.
I understand the need for transportation I just dont understand the need to do it by taxi probably the most expensive way to do it.
No one paying for it likes it, but they don't have vehicles or drivers themselves to do it what else can they do?
A taxi driver has claimed British Foreign Secretary David Lammy and his wife Nicola Green refused to pay a fare of nearly £600 after he drove them more than 360 miles from Italy to a ski resort in France.
The driver said he collected Lammy, 52 and his artist wife, 53, on April 10 at the town of Forli near Bologna after they had accompanied King Charles and Queen Camilla on a three-day state visit to Italy.
But he alleges that Lammy 'became aggressive' when asked for payment after he drove some six hours into the night to reach Flaine, a ski village in Haute Savoie in the French Alps.
He had paid £800 and was asked for another £600 cash at the end.
Pretty mad for a thief to go directly to a police station and report a theft
I don't want to get into the legality or otherwise of this....however am I the only one that thinks booking a 600 taxi ride is odd?
I've paid for insanely expensive taxi rides two or three times, and it's usually been because there's been no other option.
For example: I was once diverted to Atlanta, due to weather and landed there at 8pm. The problem was that I needed to be in Pensacola the next morning for a 9am meeting that was not missable (and this was before Zoom). So, I paid an insane amount of money to get someone to drive me 300 or so miles.
Another time, I had a package holiday booked and work interfered and I wasn't going to be there at the start of the trip, so I needed to get a taxi a ridiculous distance.
About a decade ago and number of oil field service companies realised they were losing more people to car accidents than they were to all other forms of death and injury.
People were finishing night shifts, getting on the chopper and then driving hundreds of miles to get home.
So a number of the companies including Baker and Schlumberger introduced a ban on people driving to and from Aberdeen for offshore work. Instead they booked them (and paid for) taxis from whereever they lived - often places like Newcastle and Manchester. It cost a fortune.
Not sure if it's still policy but I did think it was a good example of putting your money where your mouth is.
One of my controversial opinions is MPs should be paid more but not get any expenses. Just not worth the hassle of argument of what can and cannot be claimed, given the political impacts.
given their quality minimum wage is too high for most
For obscure reasons, I've had cause today to get in touch with Deutsche Bahn. I tried to find an email address on their website. Not only was this easy to do, but it turned out to be even easier to phone them. They not only told you what their phone number was, they were actually quite open about it. For most British companies you have to hunt their number down like a hawk after a rodent - it's there but they don't want you to know it. It's actually easier to have an English-speaking conversation with Deutsche Bahn than with its British equivalent. Whatever that is.
It's such horseshit. Even if they can demonstrate a lower customer services "overhead" I bet the brand damage costs more.
It's probably more that Brits don't want to talk to other people if they can possibly avoid it.
I had to contact British Gas multiple times recently and despite low expectations was astonished at how bad their customer service is. Nothing they were supposed to arrange ever happened, almost no notes of the increasingly lengthy saga were taken. They paid out £80 in compensation for the service being so shit.
Not hard to see why they're bleeding customers.
They once made me physically tremble.
I had my hands shake I was so furious with someone recently. I'd always thought that was a myth.
Whole body experience for me. 27 years ago now but still a vivid memory.
A taxi driver has claimed British Foreign Secretary David Lammy and his wife Nicola Green refused to pay a fare of nearly £600 after he drove them more than 360 miles from Italy to a ski resort in France.
The driver said he collected Lammy, 52 and his artist wife, 53, on April 10 at the town of Forli near Bologna after they had accompanied King Charles and Queen Camilla on a three-day state visit to Italy.
But he alleges that Lammy 'became aggressive' when asked for payment after he drove some six hours into the night to reach Flaine, a ski village in Haute Savoie in the French Alps.
He had paid £800 and was asked for another £600 cash at the end.
Pretty mad for a thief to go directly to a police station and report a theft
I don't want to get into the legality or otherwise of this....however am I the only one that thinks booking a 600 taxi ride is odd?
Not if transporting someone with SEND to school.
Well still don't understand why they need taxis frankly
The identification of those with a need for transportation has exploded, probably beyond reasonable levels, and local authorities don't have the resources to do it but legally may have no choice. Taxis are often the only remaining option.
But don't worry, like social care the problem will be probably be reported on in years to come and acted on in 10.
I understand the need for transportation I just dont understand the need to do it by taxi probably the most expensive way to do it.
See the thing that bothers me here is this
We either had just as many send kids in the 70's but diagnosis has moved on
or
We have a huge increase in send kids now
In the first case those send kids did fine on the school bus and in a mainstream school and weren't catered for but did ok anyway
In the second case we should be investigating why we have so many more send kids now than in the past.
However the investigating will not happen because the increase is put down to better diagnosis now. If that is correct and most of those kids managed before they can manage now.
A taxi driver has claimed British Foreign Secretary David Lammy and his wife Nicola Green refused to pay a fare of nearly £600 after he drove them more than 360 miles from Italy to a ski resort in France.
The driver said he collected Lammy, 52 and his artist wife, 53, on April 10 at the town of Forli near Bologna after they had accompanied King Charles and Queen Camilla on a three-day state visit to Italy.
But he alleges that Lammy 'became aggressive' when asked for payment after he drove some six hours into the night to reach Flaine, a ski village in Haute Savoie in the French Alps.
He had paid £800 and was asked for another £600 cash at the end.
Pretty mad for a thief to go directly to a police station and report a theft
I don't want to get into the legality or otherwise of this....however am I the only one that thinks booking a 600 taxi ride is odd?
I've paid for insanely expensive taxi rides two or three times, and it's usually been because there's been no other option.
For example: I was once diverted to Atlanta, due to weather and landed there at 8pm. The problem was that I needed to be in Pensacola the next morning for a 9am meeting that was not missable (and this was before Zoom). So, I paid an insane amount of money to get someone to drive me 300 or so miles.
Another time, I had a package holiday booked and work interfered and I wasn't going to be there at the start of the trip, so I needed to get a taxi a ridiculous distance.
I would expect flights from france to italy to be fairly cheap and a lot shorter than 6 hours ...if on holiday i cant see the urgency of having to be somewhere. Sounds more like someone completely out of touch with how most live than anything
Flaine is two and a half hours from Lyon, and there's only one direct flight a day (five days a week) from Bologna to Lyon.
So, I suspect a taxi was the easiest way to get there.
(Source: ChatGPT + Google Maps!)
And the urgency to get to flaine was? Would it have mattered if they just got the next flight?
The flights are only five days a week, so you might well be traveling the next day, and you still have a 2 hour trip from Lyon airport.
Look: you wouldn't do it, but it's not completely stupid, especially if you're already on the hook for a £2,500 skiing holiday and don't want to miss a quarter of it.
I am sure there will be reasons and excuses why everyone else can't do it but First Direct is different.
You call a number and someone picks up the phone.
Octopus Energy are also an example of where it can be done. And that was my main motivation in switching to them. The hours that I've wasted on hold to other suppliers...
I'm in the midst of a months long battle with Octopus, I'm afraid. I'm not even a customer, though they think I am one...
For obscure reasons, I've had cause today to get in touch with Deutsche Bahn. I tried to find an email address on their website. Not only was this easy to do, but it turned out to be even easier to phone them. They not only told you what their phone number was, they were actually quite open about it. For most British companies you have to hunt their number down like a hawk after a rodent - it's there but they don't want you to know it. It's actually easier to have an English-speaking conversation with Deutsche Bahn than with its British equivalent. Whatever that is.
It's such horseshit. Even if they can demonstrate a lower customer services "overhead" I bet the brand damage costs more.
It's probably more that Brits don't want to talk to other people if they can possibly avoid it.
I had to contact British Gas multiple times recently and despite low expectations was astonished at how bad their customer service is. Nothing they were supposed to arrange ever happened, almost no notes of the increasingly lengthy saga were taken. They paid out £80 in compensation for the service being so shit.
Some on the left really despise the working class if they don’t come up to their expectation of them being the virtuous poor they can radiate their goodness on. Pulp’s Common People.
For obscure reasons, I've had cause today to get in touch with Deutsche Bahn. I tried to find an email address on their website. Not only was this easy to do, but it turned out to be even easier to phone them. They not only told you what their phone number was, they were actually quite open about it. For most British companies you have to hunt their number down like a hawk after a rodent - it's there but they don't want you to know it. It's actually easier to have an English-speaking conversation with Deutsche Bahn than with its British equivalent. Whatever that is.
It's such horseshit. Even if they can demonstrate a lower customer services "overhead" I bet the brand damage costs more.
It's probably more that Brits don't want to talk to other people if they can possibly avoid it.
I had to contact British Gas multiple times recently and despite low expectations was astonished at how bad their customer service is. Nothing they were supposed to arrange ever happened, almost no notes of the increasingly lengthy saga were taken. They paid out £80 in compensation for the service being so shit.
Not hard to see why they're bleeding customers.
They once made me physically tremble.
I had my hands shake I was so furious with someone recently. I'd always thought that was a myth.
I thought the same about Kundalini orgasms. Until I had one with my Corbynite wife
A taxi driver has claimed British Foreign Secretary David Lammy and his wife Nicola Green refused to pay a fare of nearly £600 after he drove them more than 360 miles from Italy to a ski resort in France.
The driver said he collected Lammy, 52 and his artist wife, 53, on April 10 at the town of Forli near Bologna after they had accompanied King Charles and Queen Camilla on a three-day state visit to Italy.
But he alleges that Lammy 'became aggressive' when asked for payment after he drove some six hours into the night to reach Flaine, a ski village in Haute Savoie in the French Alps.
He had paid £800 and was asked for another £600 cash at the end.
Pretty mad for a thief to go directly to a police station and report a theft
I don't want to get into the legality or otherwise of this....however am I the only one that thinks booking a 600 taxi ride is odd?
Not if transporting someone with SEND to school.
Well still don't understand why they need taxis frankly
The identification of those with a need for transportation has exploded, probably beyond reasonable levels, and local authorities don't have the resources to do it but legally may have no choice. Taxis are often the only remaining option.
But don't worry, like social care the problem will be probably be reported on in years to come and acted on in 10.
I understand the need for transportation I just dont understand the need to do it by taxi probably the most expensive way to do it.
No one paying for it likes it, but they don't have vehicles or drivers themselves to do it what else can they do?
Same as they did in the 70's put them on the school bus?
For obscure reasons, I've had cause today to get in touch with Deutsche Bahn. I tried to find an email address on their website. Not only was this easy to do, but it turned out to be even easier to phone them. They not only told you what their phone number was, they were actually quite open about it. For most British companies you have to hunt their number down like a hawk after a rodent - it's there but they don't want you to know it. It's actually easier to have an English-speaking conversation with Deutsche Bahn than with its British equivalent. Whatever that is.
It's such horseshit. Even if they can demonstrate a lower customer services "overhead" I bet the brand damage costs more.
It's probably more that Brits don't want to talk to other people if they can possibly avoid it.
I had to contact British Gas multiple times recently and despite low expectations was astonished at how bad their customer service is. Nothing they were supposed to arrange ever happened, almost no notes of the increasingly lengthy saga were taken. They paid out £80 in compensation for the service being so shit.
Not hard to see why they're bleeding customers.
They once made me physically tremble.
I had my hands shake I was so furious with someone recently. I'd always thought that was a myth.
Whole body experience for me. 27 years ago now but still a vivid memory.
I've never heard of anyone having such an exciting experience with British Gas.
A taxi driver has claimed British Foreign Secretary David Lammy and his wife Nicola Green refused to pay a fare of nearly £600 after he drove them more than 360 miles from Italy to a ski resort in France.
The driver said he collected Lammy, 52 and his artist wife, 53, on April 10 at the town of Forli near Bologna after they had accompanied King Charles and Queen Camilla on a three-day state visit to Italy.
But he alleges that Lammy 'became aggressive' when asked for payment after he drove some six hours into the night to reach Flaine, a ski village in Haute Savoie in the French Alps.
He had paid £800 and was asked for another £600 cash at the end.
Pretty mad for a thief to go directly to a police station and report a theft
I don't want to get into the legality or otherwise of this....however am I the only one that thinks booking a 600 taxi ride is odd?
I've paid for insanely expensive taxi rides two or three times, and it's usually been because there's been no other option.
For example: I was once diverted to Atlanta, due to weather and landed there at 8pm. The problem was that I needed to be in Pensacola the next morning for a 9am meeting that was not missable (and this was before Zoom). So, I paid an insane amount of money to get someone to drive me 300 or so miles.
Another time, I had a package holiday booked and work interfered and I wasn't going to be there at the start of the trip, so I needed to get a taxi a ridiculous distance.
About a decade ago and number of oil field service companies realised they were losing more people to car accidents than they were to all other forms of death and injury.
People were finishing night shifts, getting on the chopper and then driving hundreds of miles to get home.
So a number of the companies including Baker and Schlumberger introduced a ban on people driving to and from Aberdeen for offshore work. Instead they booked them (and paid for) taxis from whereever they lived - often places like Newcastle and Manchester. It cost a fortune.
Not sure if it's still policy but I did think it was a good example of putting your money where your mouth is.
There are stories about the Lerwick - Aberdeen ferry along those lines, though I think alcohol was the problem.
A taxi driver has claimed British Foreign Secretary David Lammy and his wife Nicola Green refused to pay a fare of nearly £600 after he drove them more than 360 miles from Italy to a ski resort in France.
The driver said he collected Lammy, 52 and his artist wife, 53, on April 10 at the town of Forli near Bologna after they had accompanied King Charles and Queen Camilla on a three-day state visit to Italy.
But he alleges that Lammy 'became aggressive' when asked for payment after he drove some six hours into the night to reach Flaine, a ski village in Haute Savoie in the French Alps.
He had paid £800 and was asked for another £600 cash at the end.
Pretty mad for a thief to go directly to a police station and report a theft
I don't want to get into the legality or otherwise of this....however am I the only one that thinks booking a 600 taxi ride is odd?
Not if transporting someone with SEND to school.
Well still don't understand why they need taxis frankly
The identification of those with a need for transportation has exploded, probably beyond reasonable levels, and local authorities don't have the resources to do it but legally may have no choice. Taxis are often the only remaining option.
But don't worry, like social care the problem will be probably be reported on in years to come and acted on in 10.
I understand the need for transportation I just dont understand the need to do it by taxi probably the most expensive way to do it.
No one paying for it likes it, but they don't have vehicles or drivers themselves to do it what else can they do?
Same as they did in the 70's put them on the school bus?
That's why I said they don't have vehicles or drivers. It's probably classic cannot afford the initial cost of one option so it ends up costing even more as it is smaller initially for the other.
If I were a Reform MP, the thing I would be most concerned about would not be the reputational damage of legal actions against Reform, it would be the fact that Farage has fallen out with almost everyone he's ever worked with.
He fell out with Alan Sked, and Diane James, and Douglas Carswell, and Ben Habib, and now Rupert Lowe. And those are just the ones I can think of on the top of my head.
These fallings out aren't minor either: usually people end up leaving the party. (And sometimes fleeing to Alabama.)
So, I don't expect this to negatively impact Farage's poll ratings... but it might make me think twice as an MP if I wanted to jump ship.
Totally agree, I still remember years ago when it was literally a revolving exit door in UKIP because of the steady stream of senior members who left after falling out with Farage.
I am sure there will be reasons and excuses why everyone else can't do it but First Direct is different.
You call a number and someone picks up the phone.
Octopus Energy are also an example of where it can be done. And that was my main motivation in switching to them. The hours that I've wasted on hold to other suppliers...
I'm in the midst of a months long battle with Octopus, I'm afraid. I'm not even a customer, though they think I am one...
The thing to do is just phone up the board. You won't, most likely, get to the actual big wigs, but you will get to their private secretaries. If you're polite your issue will be fixed the next day. This doesn't work with EdF though, who are a barrel of turds.
A taxi driver has claimed British Foreign Secretary David Lammy and his wife Nicola Green refused to pay a fare of nearly £600 after he drove them more than 360 miles from Italy to a ski resort in France.
The driver said he collected Lammy, 52 and his artist wife, 53, on April 10 at the town of Forli near Bologna after they had accompanied King Charles and Queen Camilla on a three-day state visit to Italy.
But he alleges that Lammy 'became aggressive' when asked for payment after he drove some six hours into the night to reach Flaine, a ski village in Haute Savoie in the French Alps.
He had paid £800 and was asked for another £600 cash at the end.
A taxi driver has claimed British Foreign Secretary David Lammy and his wife Nicola Green refused to pay a fare of nearly £600 after he drove them more than 360 miles from Italy to a ski resort in France.
The driver said he collected Lammy, 52 and his artist wife, 53, on April 10 at the town of Forli near Bologna after they had accompanied King Charles and Queen Camilla on a three-day state visit to Italy.
But he alleges that Lammy 'became aggressive' when asked for payment after he drove some six hours into the night to reach Flaine, a ski village in Haute Savoie in the French Alps.
He had paid £800 and was asked for another £600 cash at the end.
Pretty mad for a thief to go directly to a police station and report a theft
I don't want to get into the legality or otherwise of this....however am I the only one that thinks booking a 600 taxi ride is odd?
Not if transporting someone with SEND to school.
Well still don't understand why they need taxis frankly
The identification of those with a need for transportation has exploded, probably beyond reasonable levels, and local authorities don't have the resources to do it but legally may have no choice. Taxis are often the only remaining option.
But don't worry, like social care the problem will be probably be reported on in years to come and acted on in 10.
I understand the need for transportation I just dont understand the need to do it by taxi probably the most expensive way to do it.
No one paying for it likes it, but they don't have vehicles or drivers themselves to do it what else can they do?
Same as they did in the 70's put them on the school bus?
That's why I said they don't have vehicles or drivers. It's probably classic cannot afford the initial cost of one option so it ends up costing even more as it is smaller initially for the other.
presumably these schools still have buses for kids outside walking distance?
For obscure reasons, I've had cause today to get in touch with Deutsche Bahn. I tried to find an email address on their website. Not only was this easy to do, but it turned out to be even easier to phone them. They not only told you what their phone number was, they were actually quite open about it. For most British companies you have to hunt their number down like a hawk after a rodent - it's there but they don't want you to know it. It's actually easier to have an English-speaking conversation with Deutsche Bahn than with its British equivalent. Whatever that is.
It's such horseshit. Even if they can demonstrate a lower customer services "overhead" I bet the brand damage costs more.
It's probably more that Brits don't want to talk to other people if they can possibly avoid it.
I had to contact British Gas multiple times recently and despite low expectations was astonished at how bad their customer service is. Nothing they were supposed to arrange ever happened, almost no notes of the increasingly lengthy saga were taken. They paid out £80 in compensation for the service being so shit.
Not hard to see why they're bleeding customers.
They once made me physically tremble.
I had my hands shake I was so furious with someone recently. I'd always thought that was a myth.
I thought the same about Kundalini orgasms. Until I had one with my Corbynite wife
I'm not sure @kinabalu has ever had any type of orgasm.
A taxi driver has claimed British Foreign Secretary David Lammy and his wife Nicola Green refused to pay a fare of nearly £600 after he drove them more than 360 miles from Italy to a ski resort in France.
The driver said he collected Lammy, 52 and his artist wife, 53, on April 10 at the town of Forli near Bologna after they had accompanied King Charles and Queen Camilla on a three-day state visit to Italy.
But he alleges that Lammy 'became aggressive' when asked for payment after he drove some six hours into the night to reach Flaine, a ski village in Haute Savoie in the French Alps.
He had paid £800 and was asked for another £600 cash at the end.
Pretty mad for a thief to go directly to a police station and report a theft
I don't want to get into the legality or otherwise of this....however am I the only one that thinks booking a 600 taxi ride is odd?
I've paid for insanely expensive taxi rides two or three times, and it's usually been because there's been no other option.
For example: I was once diverted to Atlanta, due to weather and landed there at 8pm. The problem was that I needed to be in Pensacola the next morning for a 9am meeting that was not missable (and this was before Zoom). So, I paid an insane amount of money to get someone to drive me 300 or so miles.
Another time, I had a package holiday booked and work interfered and I wasn't going to be there at the start of the trip, so I needed to get a taxi a ridiculous distance.
I would expect flights from france to italy to be fairly cheap and a lot shorter than 6 hours ...if on holiday i cant see the urgency of having to be somewhere. Sounds more like someone completely out of touch with how most live than anything
Flaine is two and a half hours from Lyon, and there's only one direct flight a day (five days a week) from Bologna to Lyon.
So, I suspect a taxi was the easiest way to get there.
(Source: ChatGPT + Google Maps!)
And the urgency to get to flaine was? Would it have mattered if they just got the next flight?
The flights are only five days a week, so you might well be traveling the next day, and you still have a 2 hour trip from Lyon airport.
Look: you wouldn't do it, but it's not completely stupid, especially if you're already on the hook for a £2,500 skiing holiday and don't want to miss a quarter of it.
Generally, Lammy is an idiot and a berk. But I am wholly on his side here.
If I were a Reform MP, the thing I would be most concerned about would not be the reputational damage of legal actions against Reform, it would be the fact that Farage has fallen out with almost everyone he's ever worked with.
He fell out with Alan Sked, and Diane James, and Douglas Carswell, and Ben Habib, and now Rupert Lowe. And those are just the ones I can think of on the top of my head.
These fallings out aren't minor either: usually people end up leaving the party. (And sometimes fleeing to Alabama.)
So, I don't expect this to negatively impact Farage's poll ratings... but it might make me think twice as an MP if I wanted to jump ship.
Totally agree, I still remember years ago when it was literally a revolving exit door in UKIP because of the steady stream of senior members who left after falling out with Farage.
And that's Farage's problem, if he really aspires to be the next PM. (As I've said before, I'm dubious.)
Like it or not, he would need a dozen and a bit Cabinet ministers. People elected as MPs, so with their own mandates, and with enough heft to run a department. But insufficient heft to challenge him. Not easy.
Trump doesn't have that problem. Everyone knows that his Cabinet is made of nitwits who served at the tangerine tyrant's pleasure. It's the American way, but not our way
It's also one of the reasons that Mayor Boris did a better job than PM Boris. The Mayor's deputies are nobodies, so he could appoint on merit. Cabinet ministers are potential rivals, so they couldn't be too good. And in general, they weren't.
If I were a Reform MP, the thing I would be most concerned about would not be the reputational damage of legal actions against Reform, it would be the fact that Farage has fallen out with almost everyone he's ever worked with.
He fell out with Alan Sked, and Diane James, and Douglas Carswell, and Ben Habib, and now Rupert Lowe. And those are just the ones I can think of on the top of my head.
These fallings out aren't minor either: usually people end up leaving the party. (And sometimes fleeing to Alabama.)
So, I don't expect this to negatively impact Farage's poll ratings... but it might make me think twice as an MP if I wanted to jump ship.
Totally agree, I still remember years ago when it was literally a revolving exit door in UKIP because of the steady stream of senior members who left after falling out with Farage.
There comes a point when you’d think he’d realise, given the amount of people he has fallen out with, that the problem isn’t likely to be all of them.
A taxi driver has claimed British Foreign Secretary David Lammy and his wife Nicola Green refused to pay a fare of nearly £600 after he drove them more than 360 miles from Italy to a ski resort in France.
The driver said he collected Lammy, 52 and his artist wife, 53, on April 10 at the town of Forli near Bologna after they had accompanied King Charles and Queen Camilla on a three-day state visit to Italy.
But he alleges that Lammy 'became aggressive' when asked for payment after he drove some six hours into the night to reach Flaine, a ski village in Haute Savoie in the French Alps.
He had paid £800 and was asked for another £600 cash at the end.
A taxi driver has claimed British Foreign Secretary David Lammy and his wife Nicola Green refused to pay a fare of nearly £600 after he drove them more than 360 miles from Italy to a ski resort in France.
The driver said he collected Lammy, 52 and his artist wife, 53, on April 10 at the town of Forli near Bologna after they had accompanied King Charles and Queen Camilla on a three-day state visit to Italy.
But he alleges that Lammy 'became aggressive' when asked for payment after he drove some six hours into the night to reach Flaine, a ski village in Haute Savoie in the French Alps.
He had paid £800 and was asked for another £600 cash at the end.
If I were a Reform MP, the thing I would be most concerned about would not be the reputational damage of legal actions against Reform, it would be the fact that Farage has fallen out with almost everyone he's ever worked with.
He fell out with Alan Sked, and Diane James, and Douglas Carswell, and Ben Habib, and now Rupert Lowe. And those are just the ones I can think of on the top of my head.
These fallings out aren't minor either: usually people end up leaving the party. (And sometimes fleeing to Alabama.)
So, I don't expect this to negatively impact Farage's poll ratings... but it might make me think twice as an MP if I wanted to jump ship.
Totally agree, I still remember years ago when it was literally a revolving exit door in UKIP because of the steady stream of senior members who left after falling out with Farage.
There comes a point when you’d think he’d realise, given the amount of people he has fallen out with, that the problem isn’t likely to be all of them.
If you meet one arsehole, you've just met an arsehole.
Mind numbing battles with bureaucracy are so frustrating.
At the start of January I wrote to Crapita to get a forecast of an old DB pension. Four months later I still don’t have it. Chased loads of times. The problem is a law change in 2024 concerning the temporary uplift element. The trustees are ‘looking at it’. Putting a complaint via the Pensions Ombudsman is made to be as awkward as possible.
It is so frustrating trying to get this. It is just the lack of empowerment and the feeling with these fuckers that if you push it you fail the attitude test and you get put to the back of the list yet it’s my money.
A taxi driver has claimed British Foreign Secretary David Lammy and his wife Nicola Green refused to pay a fare of nearly £600 after he drove them more than 360 miles from Italy to a ski resort in France.
The driver said he collected Lammy, 52 and his artist wife, 53, on April 10 at the town of Forli near Bologna after they had accompanied King Charles and Queen Camilla on a three-day state visit to Italy.
But he alleges that Lammy 'became aggressive' when asked for payment after he drove some six hours into the night to reach Flaine, a ski village in Haute Savoie in the French Alps.
He had paid £800 and was asked for another £600 cash at the end.
EXCL: Keir Starmer's migration minister signed a pledge promising not to report illegal migrants to the authorities - and demanded an amnesty for undocumented migrants
even to contribute 10k on tax and ni you need to be earning more than 50k a year, vat to get it up to 12k would mean you are spending 10k a year on vatable stuff so not rent or mortgatge or food or council tax and on powerbills its on 5 %. It also assumes you have nothing coming from the state such a nhs, education etc
Lowe seems to have represented a strand of opinion that wanted to steer Reform to the right and he won the Musk endorsement as a result. Farrage strongly resisted this and politely told Musk where he could go (and Lowe too, far less politely.) By firmly rejecting any shift to the (dare we say radical?) right Farrage has gained more by this then he has lost.
Indeed: but the issue for Reform in attracting Conservative defections (which they should want to do), is that it helps when people get on with the Party leader.
If you don't get on with the Party leader, and get kicked out of the Party, and you get the police sicc'ed on you.
Well, it makes you think twice about jumping ship.
I'm sure you are correct Robert and that probably does explain why there have been no defections yet.
I just think If the polls hold on like this, we will start to get reluctant and very nervous Conservative MPs defecting anyway, on the basis that better 'pot luck' with Nigel today than 'humble pie' and the dole come the GE tommorow.
Surely that is also going to be the case for some reluctant and very nervous Labour MPs, especially in those red wall seats they regained from the Conservatives at the 2024 GE?
A taxi driver has claimed British Foreign Secretary David Lammy and his wife Nicola Green refused to pay a fare of nearly £600 after he drove them more than 360 miles from Italy to a ski resort in France.
The driver said he collected Lammy, 52 and his artist wife, 53, on April 10 at the town of Forli near Bologna after they had accompanied King Charles and Queen Camilla on a three-day state visit to Italy.
But he alleges that Lammy 'became aggressive' when asked for payment after he drove some six hours into the night to reach Flaine, a ski village in Haute Savoie in the French Alps.
He had paid £800 and was asked for another £600 cash at the end.
The bizarrest thing I saw in the states was a tip jar in a shop where you picked your own stuff out and took it to the counter for checkout much like our supermarkets...what service am I tipping for exactly?
If I were a Reform MP, the thing I would be most concerned about would not be the reputational damage of legal actions against Reform, it would be the fact that Farage has fallen out with almost everyone he's ever worked with.
He fell out with Alan Sked, and Diane James, and Douglas Carswell, and Ben Habib, and now Rupert Lowe. And those are just the ones I can think of on the top of my head.
These fallings out aren't minor either: usually people end up leaving the party. (And sometimes fleeing to Alabama.)
So, I don't expect this to negatively impact Farage's poll ratings... but it might make me think twice as an MP if I wanted to jump ship.
Totally agree, I still remember years ago when it was literally a revolving exit door in UKIP because of the steady stream of senior members who left after falling out with Farage.
It's sometimes worth standing back a little, looking at a politician, and making an assessment of their character. Is he/she really a fit and proper person? Do that and the fate of Liz and Boris will have come as little surprise. Likewise, Nigel.
A taxi driver has claimed British Foreign Secretary David Lammy and his wife Nicola Green refused to pay a fare of nearly £600 after he drove them more than 360 miles from Italy to a ski resort in France.
The driver said he collected Lammy, 52 and his artist wife, 53, on April 10 at the town of Forli near Bologna after they had accompanied King Charles and Queen Camilla on a three-day state visit to Italy.
But he alleges that Lammy 'became aggressive' when asked for payment after he drove some six hours into the night to reach Flaine, a ski village in Haute Savoie in the French Alps.
He had paid £800 and was asked for another £600 cash at the end.
For obscure reasons, I've had cause today to get in touch with Deutsche Bahn. I tried to find an email address on their website. Not only was this easy to do, but it turned out to be even easier to phone them. They not only told you what their phone number was, they were actually quite open about it. For most British companies you have to hunt their number down like a hawk after a rodent - it's there but they don't want you to know it. It's actually easier to have an English-speaking conversation with Deutsche Bahn than with its British equivalent. Whatever that is.
It's such horseshit. Even if they can demonstrate a lower customer services "overhead" I bet the brand damage costs more.
It's probably more that Brits don't want to talk to other people if they can possibly avoid it.
I had to contact British Gas multiple times recently and despite low expectations was astonished at how bad their customer service is. Nothing they were supposed to arrange ever happened, almost no notes of the increasingly lengthy saga were taken. They paid out £80 in compensation for the service being so shit.
Not hard to see why they're bleeding customers.
They once made me physically tremble.
I had my hands shake I was so furious with someone recently. I'd always thought that was a myth.
I thought the same about Kundalini orgasms. Until I had one with my Corbynite wife
I'm not sure @kinabalu has ever had any type of orgasm.
A taxi driver has claimed British Foreign Secretary David Lammy and his wife Nicola Green refused to pay a fare of nearly £600 after he drove them more than 360 miles from Italy to a ski resort in France.
The driver said he collected Lammy, 52 and his artist wife, 53, on April 10 at the town of Forli near Bologna after they had accompanied King Charles and Queen Camilla on a three-day state visit to Italy.
But he alleges that Lammy 'became aggressive' when asked for payment after he drove some six hours into the night to reach Flaine, a ski village in Haute Savoie in the French Alps.
He had paid £800 and was asked for another £600 cash at the end.
The bizarrest thing I saw in the states was a tip jar in a shop where you picked your own stuff out and took it to the counter for checkout much like our supermarkets...what service am I tipping for exactly?
There's a store, like a mini supermarket, around the corner from me.
The cashier scans my goods.
I go pay, and they offer me the opportunity to tip 20%, 22% or 25% for the privilege of them, having run up my items for me.
even to contribute 10k on tax and ni you need to be earning more than 50k a year, vat to get it up to 12k would mean you are spending 10k a year on vatable stuff so not rent or mortgatge or food or council tax and on powerbills its on 5 %. It also assumes you have nothing coming from the state such a nhs, education etc
Far be it from me to defend the number (which I suspect is BS), but you probably should add in VAT receipts too.
A taxi driver has claimed British Foreign Secretary David Lammy and his wife Nicola Green refused to pay a fare of nearly £600 after he drove them more than 360 miles from Italy to a ski resort in France.
The driver said he collected Lammy, 52 and his artist wife, 53, on April 10 at the town of Forli near Bologna after they had accompanied King Charles and Queen Camilla on a three-day state visit to Italy.
But he alleges that Lammy 'became aggressive' when asked for payment after he drove some six hours into the night to reach Flaine, a ski village in Haute Savoie in the French Alps.
Given it would be on expenses , why was he concerned.
From the link you posted can I point you at a quote "Oxford Economics (2018) found that a single 20-year old with no children only needed to earn just over £10,000 per year to ‘break even"....now given as I think you will agree someone on 10k a year is
a) paying not tax or ni. b) as someone the other day posts cant remember who average nhs costs by decile age which sited 20 to 29 the average nhs cost was 2k c) at 10k a year frankly they cant afford to live here unless getting top up benefits
I call that report a complete steaming pile of bollocks
If I were a Reform MP, the thing I would be most concerned about would not be the reputational damage of legal actions against Reform, it would be the fact that Farage has fallen out with almost everyone he's ever worked with.
He fell out with Alan Sked, and Diane James, and Douglas Carswell, and Ben Habib, and now Rupert Lowe. And those are just the ones I can think of on the top of my head.
These fallings out aren't minor either: usually people end up leaving the party. (And sometimes fleeing to Alabama.)
So, I don't expect this to negatively impact Farage's poll ratings... but it might make me think twice as an MP if I wanted to jump ship.
Totally agree, I still remember years ago when it was literally a revolving exit door in UKIP because of the steady stream of senior members who left after falling out with Farage.
There comes a point when you’d think he’d realise, given the amount of people he has fallen out with, that the problem isn’t likely to be all of them.
Everyone thinks they should but they never do, it goes with the territory.
even to contribute 10k on tax and ni you need to be earning more than 50k a year, vat to get it up to 12k would mean you are spending 10k a year on vatable stuff so not rent or mortgatge or food or council tax and on powerbills its on 5 %. It also assumes you have nothing coming from the state such a nhs, education etc
Far be it from me to defend the number (which I suspect is BS), but you probably should add in VAT receipts too.
I mentioned vat....at 20% you would be spending at least 10k on vatable stuff which is why I mentioned all the not vat stuff most of the take home went on
Comments
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c365ernrnlyo
I must have missed it.
In 2018 when Lord Sugar posted a picture he thought comical likening the Senegalese soccer team to beach sellers there was outrage from Kick it Out, Labour MPs demanded he should be sacked and he was reported to need to undergo unconscious bias training too.
Do people not need unconscious bias training for Jew hate ?
Like a digital tragedy of the commons.
* I would make an exception for Con voters in Clacton. Defenestrating Farage at his moment of triumph is worth some shitz and giggles.
Not hard to see why they're bleeding customers.
I know people will say "They choose it according to your preferences..." but I don't post on Twix, and whilst I have followed a few people, I doubt the people involved with trains, triathlon, planes, archaeology and architecture necessarily lead to those sorts of posts...
(Having said that, the 'For you' section should be renamed 'Elon Musk's poisoned mind').
Gawd, it's actually grimmer than I even imagined.
#ThePhoenixClub #ReformUKPub #Blackpool #Reform #ReformUK #Farage
https://x.com/in_bloke/status/1922253489318629879?s=46&t=CW4pL-mMpTqsJXCdjW0Z6Q
Notably when complaining with the Ombudsman British Gas worked overtime to try to get the complaints closed without action (which required me to prove British Gas had lied to me and the Ombudsman in communications about what the issues were and the reason for complaint - by showing I had been told X, then they insisted this had never happened), but when it gets to the end of the process they don't dispute anything and put up no evidence whatsoever. They still would never communicate with me and I was left commenting through the Ombudsman, who at least seemed able to get British Gas to answer their communications - for example why they weren't providing the compesation they agreed they would.
It is very toothless however, as basically the minimum required standard for the industry is that they promise to try to fix a problem, not that they actually commit to doing so.
I don't expect good service, they don't invest enough in customer service for that, but it should never be that terrible. They drag things out so blatantly hoping to tire and frustrate people - there is probably a spreadsheet at their corporate offices on how many will push through to seek compensation, versus how much it would cost to improve by 10%.
'Do you know the difference between a prawn cocktail sandwich and a blowjob? No, do you fancy going on a picnic with me?'
Then again, some of them weren't dirty until after I walked in...
It's also entirely possible that GetTransfers.com advertised the job to taxi drivers as "£1,400: £800 base fare plus expected £600 tip".
And then advertised it to Lammy as "£800, tipping entirely at customer's discretion".
For example: I was once diverted to Atlanta, due to weather and landed there at 8pm. The problem was that I needed to be in Pensacola the next morning for a 9am meeting that was not missable (and this was before Zoom). So, I paid an insane amount of money to get someone to drive me 300 or so miles.
Another time, I had a package holiday booked and work interfered and I wasn't going to be there at the start of the trip, so I needed to get a taxi a ridiculous distance.
The right answer was probably to rent a car and drive 90% of the way there, and then get a taxi for the last 10%. But that's a bunch of hassle, and it'll still cost you a ton of money.
...if on holiday i cant see the urgency of having to be somewhere. Sounds more like someone completely out of touch with how most live than anything
You call a number and someone picks up the phone.
But don't worry, like social care the problem will be probably be reported on in years to come and acted on in 10.
Your company pays your accomodation you get taxed on it....not mps
Your company pays your travel to work you get taxed on it ....not mps
etc
So, I suspect a taxi was the easiest way to get there.
(Source: ChatGPT + Google Maps!)
; and perhaps along with the continued strengthening of the city centre and the gradual gentrification westwards and northwards in - what? - ten years time this will look like the norm - like it was always like this?
Whatever else is happening in the UK, something is going right - or something close to it - here.
Sorry 🙂
People were finishing night shifts, getting on the chopper and then driving hundreds of miles to get home.
So a number of the companies including Baker and Schlumberger introduced a ban on people driving to and from Aberdeen for offshore work. Instead they booked them (and paid for) taxis from whereever they lived - often places like Newcastle and Manchester. It cost a fortune.
Not sure if it's still policy but I did think it was a good example of putting your money where your mouth is.
We either had just as many send kids in the 70's but diagnosis has moved on
or
We have a huge increase in send kids now
In the first case those send kids did fine on the school bus and in a mainstream school and weren't catered for but did ok anyway
In the second case we should be investigating why we have so many more send kids now than in the past.
However the investigating will not happen because the increase is put down to better diagnosis now. If that is correct and most of those kids managed before they can manage now.
The send proponents seem to want it both ways
Look: you wouldn't do it, but it's not completely stupid, especially if you're already on the hook for a £2,500 skiing holiday and don't want to miss a quarter of it.
Did you get her name?
Like it or not, he would need a dozen and a bit Cabinet ministers. People elected as MPs, so with their own mandates, and with enough heft to run a department. But insufficient heft to challenge him. Not easy.
Trump doesn't have that problem. Everyone knows that his Cabinet is made of nitwits who served at the tangerine tyrant's pleasure. It's the American way, but not our way
It's also one of the reasons that Mayor Boris did a better job than PM Boris. The Mayor's deputies are nobodies, so he could appoint on merit. Cabinet ministers are potential rivals, so they couldn't be too good. And in general, they weren't.
A skilled migrant’s family will contribute £12,000 a year.’
‘A British skilled worker’s family takes from the economy.’
Sadiq Khan has a ‘lovely stat’ that he says dispels the idea that migrants are 'sponges or skivers’.
https://x.com/lbc/status/1922289232606835017?s=46&t=CW4pL-mMpTqsJXCdjW0Z6Q
If you meet ten arseholes..
At the start of January I wrote to Crapita to get a forecast of an old DB pension. Four months later I still don’t have it. Chased loads of times. The problem is a law change in 2024 concerning the temporary uplift element. The trustees are ‘looking at it’. Putting a complaint via the Pensions Ombudsman is made to be as awkward as possible.
It is so frustrating trying to get this. It is just the lack of empowerment and the feeling with these fuckers that if you push it you fail the attitude test and you get put to the back of the list yet it’s my money.
https://x.com/marcus51090/status/1922336693450920116?s=61
EXCL: Keir Starmer's migration minister signed a pledge promising not to report illegal migrants to the authorities - and demanded an amnesty for undocumented migrants
Do that and the fate of Liz and Boris will have come as little surprise.
Likewise, Nigel.
And then there's tax.
On top of all of which the tip is charged.
So, when you see a pizza for $10, you need to remember that the 25% service charge will actually be on
$10 pizza
$2 cover charge
$1 employee healthcare fee
--
$13
Tax @ 12%
$14.50 * 25% for tip
$3.40
Result your $10 pizza actually cost you almost $18. Before drinks.
The cashier scans my goods.
I go pay, and they offer me the opportunity to tip 20%, 22% or 25% for the privilege of them, having run up my items for me.
It's utter madness.
..
a) paying not tax or ni.
b) as someone the other day posts cant remember who average nhs costs by decile age which sited 20 to 29 the average nhs cost was 2k
c) at 10k a year frankly they cant afford to live here unless getting top up benefits
I call that report a complete steaming pile of bollocks