Bloody Employers !!

[Hicky]

Ms is a nurse, her friend is off with stress due to the staffing levels at mid 50%.....(Ms was on this ward but jumped ship as the managers are dire)....this person needs to do a course(relatively newly qualified) and on a phonecall to update management of her condition etc she enquires when can this training be rescheduled as it impacts on her ability to give more complete care. She was told to reconsider her absence and come back in for it!!!!

 

[DCBassman]

I've had three that tried to stop me cycling. All on the basis that cycling to work was too dangerous. Pointed out that I wasn't being paid for travelling to work, the same as anyone else, got it stopped.

It was considered too slow by one of them, who said 30 miles was not doable on a bike.

Astonishing. Who do some people think they are? Outside working hours, so "nonya forking bizniss". *Shakes head in wonder*

 

[Brains]

What I find incredible is how far apart business are:

I work in a large London office, we are encouraged to cycle.
The employers realised years ago that cyclists take off less days sick and are not affected by train strikes, leaves on the line, traffic jams etc.
We have about 450 employees in the building and about 30-40 car spaces, very few drive in on a regular basis, maybe 10, we usually have spaces free
There are probably 50 regular cyclists and another 50 fair weather cyclists
Car parking spaces were turned into cycle parking, showers, locker spaces and changing rooms years ago
We also have the cycle to work scheme

Councils should be heavily taxing work car parking spaces and using the money to provide public transportation.
and government should roll out the cycle to work scheme to everyone (Employers should not have the option to opt out)

 

[classic33]

Astonishing. Who do some people think they are? Outside working hours, so "nonya forking bizniss". *Shakes head in wonder*

Someone trying to demonstrate to his bosses that he was working, in the case of 30 miles being to far to cycle.

Then I gave him the time taken to do the trip. Done on a day off, to see how long it'd take. He never mentioned it again.

 

[Deleted member 26715]

Councils should be heavily taxing work car parking spaces and using the money to provide public transportation.
and government should roll out the cycle to work scheme to everyone (Employers should not have the option to opt out)

Typed by a true Urbanite

 

[Brains]

Typed by a true Urbanite

True, the other option is of course to introduce a toll on the ring road to the work place which would entitle you to a free parking place inside the zone.
A more complicated system, but probably fairer.

The intention should be to reduce urban traffic and pollution and encourage cycling and public transport.
Anyone driving under 3 miles to work should be penalised somehow.

If the workplace is out in the sticks somewhere one would presume it has very few employees/car parking spaces and maybe should be exempt, however once that work space got to a certain size (dozens of employees/cars) then by definition you have created another urban place and so taxable

 

[Deleted member 26715]

Anyone driving under 3 miles to work should be penalised somehow.

Typed by a healthy urbanite

 

[classic33]

Typed by a healthy urbanite

Find myself agreeing with him. In the country, six miles to the nearest shop. Cycle and I'm seen as mad. In an urban enviroment, seen as mad for cycling 250+ miles a weekend(4 day) to work as mad.

Where do you draw the line?

I did both because I could, the bike was nearly always there, and I'm not allowed to drive so I cycle.

 

[Deleted member 26715]

Where do you draw the line?

I don't know & that it's the issue, what works for some won't work for others. Blanket rule that if somebody works less than 3 miles must not use a car will make some people make sure their jobs is further away.

 

[Brains]

Typed by a healthy urbanite

How about a minimum charge every time you drive your car over 100m and then a cost per mile thereafter ?
Easy enough to do with modern satellites and black box technology.

It would then become easier to levy all sorts of toll charges.
Different prices for different roads at different times of the day.
Therefore the Nurse going to work 20 miles from home at 9pm on a Sunday does not pay the same as the office worker going 5 miles to work, via the motorway, in the centre of town at 8am on Monday.

 

[Deleted member 26715]

How about a minimum charge every time you drive your car over 100m and then a cost per mile thereafter ?

That's already in place, VED & Fuel duty, what I would support is an abolishment of VED & a large increase in fuel duty so vehicles that use the most fuel pay the most.

I also agree with an exclusion zone around each city centre whereby any vehicle entering pays a levy like they have in London but there needs to be nfrastructure to replace it, I would happily drive the 13-14 miles in ride the last 6, but there is nowhere safe to park the car or store the bike to save having to bring it in each day.

Each of these retail places like Meadowhall, Blue Water should ban deliveries by lorries & there should be a rail link so all stock comes in that way.

There are so many things we can do but there has to be a will to pay for it.

 

[Profpointy]

How about a minimum charge every time you drive your car over 100m and then a cost per mile thereafter ?
Easy enough to do with modern satellites and black box technology.

It would then become easier to levy all sorts of toll charges.
Different prices for different roads at different times of the day.
Therefore the Nurse going to work 20 miles from home at 9pm on a Sunday does not pay the same as the office worker going 5 miles to work, via the motorway, in the centre of town at 8am on Monday.

Or you could tax fuel. Just a touch simpler than satellite tracking and so forth

 

[classic33]

I don't know & that it's the issue, what works for some won't work for others. Blanket rule that if somebody works less than 3 miles must not use a car will make some people make sure their jobs is further away.

Going to do the shopping by bike, six miles each way, hasn't got anything to do with work. Used as an example of what I(Classed as unfit) have done, and still got myself classed as mad.

Both cycling to the shops and to work, were done because I could. Not to demonstrate a point. The only time that was done was when told 30 miles is too far. An increase of less than 50 over what was being done at the time. Even then it was to see if it could be done, road wise.

What I feel my manager should have done is keep his trap shut. Check what was being done at the time, and compare the current distance to the new one. Then get a bike, and actually try riding it. One of the better parts about cycling there was going past the stationary/slow moving traffic. Something he hated being caught in, which by his logic, if he as a driver got caught in it I would too. It's not as simple as that.

At the least he could have tried cycling, before dismissing it as unviable.

 

[screenman]

Good one today, a guy at a garage I was working at stopped and chatted to me for over an hour, then he moaned that I was making a mint when I handed him my invoice for £125+vat. I reminded him the seeing as he had just earned an hours money for doing absolutely nothing he was doing quite well himself.

 

[Joey Shabadoo]

There are good employers too though. Company I used to work for had a merchandiser - a guy who goes around stores sorting out the displays of their product. He'd been with them for years - first in the warehouse, briefly in sales before ending up in merchandising. Problem was he was 69 and the work was becoming too much for him but he couldn't retire as he still had two year's mortgage to go. So the company paid off his mortgage and gave him two year's salary as a retirement gift.