"Rail Minister Spends 80k A Year To Be Driven To Work"

[Westboy]

Where does this 80k come from?

He uses a pool car and driver. The car and the salary for the driver would exist whether he used them or not.

It may be an internal government accounting trick that deducts 80k from dft and gives it to another department, but the money is still spent by someone- the taxpayer

 

[merlodlliw]

The Governor of the Bank of England travels by train with sensitive information. So why can't this chap?

Hes not a Politician, but appointed by Politicians, however he does have a Govt Car & Driver at his disposal.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Hes not a Politician, but appointed by Politicians, however he does have a Govt Car & Driver at his disposal.

Mind you Brother Crow also has a Company Car & Driver as do most Union Leaders.

 

[VauxhallandI]

Hes not a Politician, but appointed by Politicians, however he does have a Govt Car & Driver at his disposal.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---[/

I was alluding to the level and risk of the information being carried.

He does not have a Goverment car and driver.

He has a BOE car and a BOE driver however he does travel by train as well so I don't see the connection.

 

[Blindtraveler]

He is the Minister of State for Transport - not just railways. If he went everywhere by train perhaps people on road forums would complain that the he should use roads for going to work like they all need to...

theres a potential compromise here - send him by train where possible and then make sure when hes going somewhere not on the network that he gets the most nackered Optere Solo anywhere in that area provided for his exclusive use free of charge by its owning opperater, oh and ensure the driver takes a lengthy diversion via the slowest lot of traffic lights and leavs the heating off. A realitty check and a half me thinks!

 

[wintonian]

theres a potential compromise here - send him by train where possible and then make sure when hes going somewhere not on the network that he gets the most nackered Optere Solo anywhere in that area provided for his exclusive use free of charge by its owning opperater, oh and ensure the driver takes a lengthy diversion via the slowest lot of traffic lights and leavs the heating off. A realitty check and a half me thinks!

Well he is 'minister for transport' so perhaps while he goes and visits some rural transport project he should get the bus there.

 

[merlodlliw]

Hes not a Politician, but appointed by Politicians, however he does have a Govt Car & Driver at his disposal.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---[/

I was alluding to the level and risk of the information being carried.

He does not have a Goverment car and driver.

He has a BOE car and a BOE driver however he does travel by train as well so I don't see the connection.

The Bank of England is part of the Government, the Governor is appointed by the Government.

 

[Lrd]

Interestingly, this is on Wiki:

Discreet black boxes are also available for ministers who need to travel by train.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_box_(government)

(Assuming it really is that big of a deal he takes the car anyways)

 

[VauxhallandI]

The Bank of England is part of the Government, the Governor is appointed by the Government.

It's not part of the government as of 1997.

Covers its spending from its own income.

 

[313103]

Mind you Brother Crow also has a Company Car & Driver as do most Union Leaders.

I have in my possesion the financial accounts of the RMT for the last 10 years not only does it not show a use for company car and a driver, Mr Crow has mentioned that as a leader of a trade union that has members who work in the public transport sector, i see no reason why i should have a car and driver for my own purposes. I think you would also note that the unions head office in Charlton Street has no parking facilities either! Infact Mr Crow dispensed with the company car policy when he was elected as General Secretary for all staff employed by the union.

As an aside Mr Crow has a all zones travelcard, and judging by the amount of pictures ive seen from friends he uses it a lot.

No doubt you have forgotten the picture printed in the mail with Mr Crow on the back of a scooter during a dispute in the early 2000s. The was screaming he gets to work whilst thousands of transport users are stranded. I also seem to remember the mail being sued by the union because of the allegation of it being used by the union as a company car rather then being a friend giving someone a lift.

Now pray Do you have any evidence of this? As i would like to see it!

 

[HSTEd]

Why can't they just handcuff the red box to the ministers wrist?


Or is someone sawing it off a serious risk?

 

[merlodlliw]

It's not part of the government as of 1997.

Covers its spending from its own income.

With all due respect,The Government appoints the BOE Boss, who reports to the Chancellor, the only change is the BOE sets the rate of interest, not the Govt, all the quango who sit on the board are Govt appointments.

Well thats my opinion

 

[CardiffKid]

Why can't they just handcuff the red box to the ministers wrist?


Or is someone sawing it off a serious risk?

:roll:

 

[merlodlliw]

I have in my possesion the financial accounts of the RMT for the last 10 years not only does it not show a use for company car and a driver, Mr Crow has mentioned that as a leader of a trade union that has members who work in the public transport sector, i see no reason why i should have a car and driver for my own purposes. I think you would also note that the unions head office in Charlton Street has no parking facilities either! Infact Mr Crow dispensed with the company car policy when he was elected as General Secretary for all staff employed by the union.

As an aside Mr Crow has a all zones travelcard, and judging by the amount of pictures ive seen from friends he uses it a lot.

No doubt you have forgotten the picture printed in the mail with Mr Crow on the back of a scooter during a dispute in the early 2000s. The was screaming he gets to work whilst thousands of transport users are stranded. I also seem to remember the mail being sued by the union because of the allegation of it being used by the union as a company car rather then being a friend giving someone a lift.

Now pray Do you have any evidence of this? As i would like to see it!

Financial accounts do not show everything, missalanious expenses come to mind, I was under the impression the RMT had leased Company cars like all other Trade Unions

 

[bnm]

It's not part of the government as of 1997.

Independent public organisation wholly owned by HM Government.

 

[RobShipway]

I know for a fact that Norman Baker who is Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport also I believe carries a red case, but he travels quite happily on the train up from Lewes in Sussex, for which he is MP.

 

[rebmcr]

Why can't they just handcuff the red box to the ministers wrist?

Or is someone sawing it off a serious risk?

The issue is he can't open the box and read the docs because someone might see the contents.

 

[HSTEd]

The issue is he can't open the box and read the docs because someone might see the contents.

Apparently the commute is roughly an hour from Chelmsford to Westminster Tube station.
This means two hours per day is he commuting by public transport.

Assuming he comes in 350 days a year, that translates to roughly 700hrs a year spent in transit (this is likely an overestimate).

Assuming the cost of this commute really is £80,000, this means we are effectively paying a marginal rate of £114/hr for the extra working time.
If we assume he is as effective working in the back of a car as he is in his office, this translates to an equivalent annual full time salary of something on order of £228,000

It would be cheaper to take on additional staff and simply accept he can't read his documents during the commute.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Mind you Brother Crow also has a Company Car & Driver as do most Union Leaders.

I detect a certain linkage here to the book called "Animal Farm".

 

[RobShipway]

Apparently the commute is roughly an hour from Chelmsford to Westminster Tube station.
This means two hours per day is he commuting by public transport.

Assuming he comes in 350 days a year, that translates to roughly 700hrs a year spent in transit (this is likely an overestimate).

Assuming the cost of this commute really is £80,000, this means we are effectively paying a marginal rate of £114/hr for the extra working time.
If we assume he is as effective working in the back of a car as he is in his office, this translates to an equivalent annual full time salary of something on order of £228,000

It would be cheaper to take on additional staff and simply accept he can't read his documents during the commute.

Agreed as I stated in an earlier post, other manage to do it and do not cost anything as near as much to the tax payer than he does. The only think that I can think of is that perhaps the Rail Minister does not like trains....

 

[Westboy]

I know for a fact that Norman Baker who is Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport also I believe carries a red case, but he travels quite happily on the train up from Lewes in Sussex, for which he is MP.

As does David Heath, the Minister of state at DEFRA, who is often to be seen on the early train from Frome on a Monday morning.

 

[swj99]

Can he drive ?

If so, he wouldn't really need a chauffer. After all, it's only a 35 mile journey, so how much can he read in that time ? Surely he could set off a bit earlier and leave time to read any paperwork after he arrived. If his department or employer already has the car anyway, and if he'd rather not go on the train, why not let him drive it himself, and save on paying for a chauffer for those hours ?
Local authority employees get to use pool cars, so why not him ? He could just book out a car when he needs one, drive it to where he's going, and his department gets charged the appropriate mileage fee. If he's on a higher salary grade, he'd get to choose a bigger, more expensive car, like a Mondeo, a Vectra or a Passat, instead of a base model Polo, a Fiesta or a £6,000 Sizuki Alto.

Other than that, what about just buying him permanently allocated car, so he can drive himself. If the figures quoted in the paper are to be believed, then even if they bought him a new Volkswagen Passat TDI 140 Sport for £23,895 then it would save over £50,000 a year.

 

[313103]

Financial accounts do not show everything, missalanious expenses come to mind, I was under the impression the RMT had leased Company cars like all other Trade Unions

And what do they say about 'Assumptions being the Mother'

However it does give figures in the column travel expenses, so i assume that includes his travel card and probably train travel.

The RMT might be the only union that does not use company cars. Jimmy Knapp might of used one know as the old head office on Euston Road had car parking facilities.

All officers of the union are required to use public transport at all times, officers who use cars, must use they own cars and can only claim expnses in extreme circumstances.

 

[yorksrob]

Hmm. I wonder whether permanent secretaries are also banned from taking work on the train, since they would presumably be party to the same information as their ministers.

I'm not against Ministers of State having their cars, but it would be good if they had the opportunity to use public transport (i.e for real, rather than as a gimmick, which is effectively the case if the car has to go anyway).

I'm sure there are plenty of ministerial portfolio's which aren't so sensitive in terms of security that their work could go on the train.

 

[VauxhallandI]

With all due respect,The Government appoints the BOE Boss, who reports to the Chancellor, the only change is the BOE sets the rate of interest, not the Govt, all the quango who sit on the board are Govt appointments.

Well thats my opinion

It's ok I only work there and bought the Governors car....

 

[D841 Roebuck]

As well as their ministerial duties, ministers are also constituency MPs.

If the contents of their red boxes are too sensitive to be worked on on a train, why not use the time instead to deal with correspondence from constituents? Or party political matters?

In fact, isn't anyone who works regularly whilst commuting potentially in breach of Working Time Regulations...

 

[wintonian]

If the contents of their red boxes are too sensitive to be worked on on a train, why not use the time instead to deal with correspondence from constituents?

This normally consists of very personal information indeed and to the constituent just as sensitive.

 

[VauxhallandI]

The issue is he can't open the box and read the docs because someone might see the contents.

Book the whole table, they are quite often not alone

 

[D841 Roebuck]

This normally consists of very personal information indeed and to the constituent just as sensitive.

An excellent point.

 

[Stats]

He is the Minister of State for Transport - not just railways. If he went everywhere by train perhaps people on road forums would complain that the he should use roads for going to work like they all need to...

His remit is rail strategy, Crossrail, HS2 and aviation. Are you suggesting he should fly to work?

 

[Oswyntail]

His remit is rail strategy, Crossrail, HS2 and aviation. Are you suggesting he should fly to work?

And just imagine what would happen if a train load of commuters worked out who he was! Or read the contents of his red box.