[juliag]

Does Highways/ roadworkers amount to the same thing here. We recently had a Council highways truck pull up outside our field gate and park turning their engine off. After it had been sat there for about 45 mins I thought I would just be nosy and see what they were up to , thinking we were obviously going to have our patch of lane dug up. As I walked nonchelently passed the cab I noticed 2 people in it both fast asleep in the sunshine. my dog jumped up against the cab door startling the driver awake. ''Sorry '' I said as I pulled the dog off, ''thats alright love '' the driver replied,'' another half hour and we knock off''.
''oh thats alright then '' I said,(sarcastically but they didnt notice) ''would you like a cup of tea whilst you wait''. ''nah your alright love'' they said ''we've brought a flask with us''
I must admit it did make me smile a bit however if they had accepted the tea I think I would have been bloody annoyed.
My husband used to work for Bath City council, he worked for them for about 12 yrs before saying he couldnt stand it any more. However now he says that the perks and benefits ie final salary pensions, 40p mile petrol allowance and that was 10 yrs ago!!! he now gets 16p a mile in the private sector!!, he used to get luncheon vouchers.........bloody hell the list goes on and on............ yes he used to work hard between the hours of 9am - 5pm and then came home and his time was his own. Not now he can still be working at 11pm and starts every morning at 6am. (his computer makes a little jingle when it starts up). I am sorry the public sector in my opinion needs a damn good shake up, not all of it but a hell of a lot of it. 

[Wizard]

A stupid question to some no doubt "Did you know he's Chief Exec; at the council now and earns £180,000 a year.Earns EARNS for doing what did you read about our so called he got the option then they whoever they are gave him an alleged £500.000 hand shake to go.They grant themselves huge pay rises far beyond the cost of inflation.Who cares its YOUR money they are getting hold of.The same with this Bank crash Grimsby had £m7 invested don't matter its its not theirs.They should be made to pay it back.I know well if you do that you wont get any worthwhile person take the job.Worthwhile and hes just wasted £M7 and taken another pay increase but we are going to have some redundancy's to save money

[Rosemary]

A stupid question to some no doubt "Did you know he's Chief Exec; at the council now and earns £180,000 a year.Earns EARNS for doing what did you read about our so called he got the option then they whoever they are gave him an alleged £500.000 hand shake to go.They grant themselves huge pay rises far beyond the cost of inflation.Who cares its YOUR money they are getting hold of.The same with this Bank crash Grimsby had £m7 invested don't matter its its not theirs.They should be made to pay it back.I know well if you do that you wont get any worthwhile person take the job.Worthwhile and hes just wasted £M7 and taken another pay increase but we are going to have some redundancy's to save money

I'm not sure I understand this post as I find it incoherent but if it's aimed at local government, it's nonsense as CEO salaries are set nationally.

I find Jackie's previous post frankly insulting.

Annie, if you want answers to these questions, ask your local councillor.

[Wizard]

DON'T WORRY ABOUT IT ROSEMARY LOTS OF OTHERS DO JUDGEIN BY MY EMAILS

[sheila]

Has anyone been on a golf course mid week and encountered all the CEO s that are supposed to be working? Also try the really posh restaurants and see how lunch goes on til about 3.30pm.

[Wizard]

To mention but 2 Sheila you must surely remember the Chief Exec; debarcle a couple of years ago

[Moleskins]

When I worked in Local Government we had a saying ............... "if only the rate payers knew"
If you think that sums it up, think again, we had a bloke who went playing bingo nearly every afternoon. Everybody knew about it and one day he was hauled into the office. His excuse was that he'd been missing because he'd gone down the basement, sat down and fell asleep.
If you'd ever seen the basement there was no space to walk never mind sit down and it was that cold you'd have a job to fall asleep. Boy, was he hauled over the coals, they told him not to do it again.
Another bloke came in early, on flexi time, sat and drank coffee, picked his horses and then went out "on his rounds" (to the bookies). He generally went out again mid pm. ( to collect any winnings ) and the flexi time system automatically clocked him off at the end of the day.
And that's only the half of it, none of the above is why we said "if only the rate payers knew"

[caz]

i have gone from private to public sector and wow it was a culture shock. But me and my direct colleagues(most of them) do work hard at our jobs. I did once complain(to a different council) about a council van i saw parked up with the engine running and workman asleep, i went off walked the dogs and when i came back over 30 minutes later engine was still running. I rang the council management and told them i would appreciate if my money was not spent on leaving engines running while people had breaks, he was very appologetic and said he would remind all the team to knock engines off. Whether he did or not i'll never know.

[juliag]

i have gone from private to public sector and wow it was a culture shock. But me and my direct colleagues(most of them) do work hard at our jobs. I did once complain(to a different council) about a council van i saw parked up with the engine running and workman asleep, i went off walked the dogs and when i came back over 30 minutes later engine was still running. I rang the council management and told them i would appreciate if my money was spent on leaving engines running while people had breaks, he was very appologetic and said he would remind all the team to knock engines off. Whether he did or not i'll never know.

love the fact he was going to tell them to turn the engines off not actually that they shouldnt be sleeping in their trucks!! 

[jameslindsay]

On a seperate thread I have mentioned I put an old static caravan on my land for the goats to use as a bed and that one of my neighbours reported us to the Council for not having plannning permission. Well, apparantly because we are a business we do need permission, had we been a private house then for the exact same caravan in the exact same place we would have needed no permission, mental, crazy or what? Anyway, 2 weeks ago a man from the planning dept came out and took pictures. Well today our only other neighbours (who are huffed as we will not sell them a piece of land and this is only their holiday home so only here once in a blue moon) had a visit from planners from the council. This time it took 2 of them and they took pictures - what were wrong with the set the first guy took? Why was a second visit deemed necessary?


What a ridiculous waste of us tax payers money, the Council deserves every bit of flack they get when they do not give things so often wrong - they deserve the flack these previous posts have mentioned.

[doganjo]

Well, apparently because we are a business we do need permission

  Even if it's an extension room for the hotel?

[jameslindsay]

Well, apparently because we are a business we do need permission

  Even if it's an extension room for the hotel?

I think that would probably make the situation worse Annie! It's such a carry on, it really is.

[doganjo]

Can it be any worse?  I think your neighbours may be objecting because it is an animal house, and they are anticipating smell and noise?

[jameslindsay]

Can it be any worse?  I think your neighbours may be objecting because it is an animal house, and they are anticipating smell and noise?

I don't think they could get away with that as an excuse because the animals are already there and have been for almost 4 years now. They are a bunch of stuck up sods who need a day in the real world - oh did I really say that in public???

[doganjo]

Yes, you did and I agree - probably because I can't afford a holiday home.