Trial by Jeory

Posted in Uncategorized | 25 Comments

25 Responses

1. on February 25, 2013 at 11:29 pm Tim

   Just for complete clarification here Ted, that table is taxi fares claimed back by Rahman is it not? (You didn’t actually state this although it’s pretty obvious.)

   In which case, as I’ve said before and will say again, it’s piggies in the trough, so deep you can just about see their tails. Odious, despicable, and when will it end?

   Two other things occur to me;

   – I thought that Rahman’s home address was unknown?
   – Rahman has membership of some poncy gym in Canary Wharf, according to your earlier posts. It seems doubly remarkable that we pay for his membership there to get exercise and also pay just shy of three grand for him to avoid having to walk around the borough …

   Makes me wonder who are the fools here?

   Tim.

   
   
   • on February 25, 2013 at 11:34 pm trialbyjeory

     Yes, all Lutfur’s.

     
     
     • on March 4, 2013 at 8:02 pm Grave Maurice

       I think every (well almost every) council-tax [payer in LBTH would regard this as a despicable misuse of public funds.

       The “District Auditor”, Andrew Sayers, who is responsible for Tower Hamlets can be contacted at:

       andrew.sayers@kpmg.co.uk

       I suggest we ALL write to him, refer to these Freedom of Information releases and get an investigation started.

       
       
     • on March 4, 2013 at 10:27 pm Tim

       GM, thanks. Is there a link to the FoI access request replies which Andrew Sayers could be directed to look at? (As opposed to sending him a link to this blog.)

       Tim.

       
       
2. on February 25, 2013 at 11:54 pm AirQualityDeaths

   City Hall is also a short walk from Tower Gateway. East India or Blackwall DLR and you are there in 12 minutes.

   
   
3. on February 25, 2013 at 11:56 pm Dan McCurry

   See, unlike you, Ted, I’m a cynic. I think one day the writer of this blog will get paid a large amount of money off Boris to be a “bicycle tzar”.

   
   
4. on February 26, 2013 at 12:10 am Hypocrite

   TH spent £2 million brining the Cycle Hire to the borough. There is one right outside the council offices. He could cycle from there to Marsh Wall , Canary Wharf Pier, Chrisp Street, Bromley by Bow, Bethnal Green and many more. He could then scrap his gym membership and save us all a fortune. If Boris can do it, why can’t he?

   
   
5. on February 26, 2013 at 12:12 am Hypocrite

   P.S Bethnal Green to Mulberry Place? D6 bus £1.30. Stops on Poplar High Street , Town Hall is across the road.

   
   
   • on February 26, 2013 at 12:51 pm oldford1

     You obviously haven’t used the buses in 2 years!

     Johnson’s put the fairs up twice since it was £1.30.

     Who’s the hypocrite now?

     
     
     • on February 26, 2013 at 2:34 pm oldford1

       ‘fares’, that should be !

       
       
6. on February 26, 2013 at 1:02 am pwei34

   Charges for the journey on 25th May from Mulberry Place to the Tower seem particularly excessive. Was it taken in an extended Cadillac “pimp-mobile”? Or was the journey via Gatwick? It would be interesting to know what a typical black cab would charge. In any case the DLR journey is not only the most straight forward, it would probably be the fastest.

   
   
7. on February 26, 2013 at 1:37 am You couldn't make it up!

   The basic principles which underpin ALL expense codes in ANY organisation is that:
   1) the code must ensure that the organisation complies with all relevant tax legislation – the Council’s legal and finance chiefs can confirm this is ALWAYS the case. It avoids an organisation becoming liable for the financial penalties which can be levied by the HM Revenue for incorrect taxation of individuals.
   2) the code must ensure that no board member/councillor or employee can receive any remuneration for an “expense” which exceeds what is deemed to be a reasonable method of remuneration for the type of expense incurred – within the context of tax law and guidance. Failure to observe an approved code can lead to the cancellation of the agreement with the HM Revenue relating to expenses which makes life so much simpler for all concerned. (This is a “Biggie”!)

   You might want to ask where Lutfur’s place of work is – from a tax perspective. I can’t think of any good reason why it would not the Town Hall.

   NOBODY – and that includes a Mayor – is allowed to charge expenses for a home to normal place of work journey.

   All work journeys are assumed to start and finish at the normal place of work. EVERYBODY is assumed to get themselves to and from their normal place of work under their own steam and at their own expense. There are usually rules as to how expenses work on the basis that is not always what happens in practice. It normally involves an offset charge.

   The person signing off his expenses should know this. Any expenses received for all such journeys between home and place of work are taxable as remuneration.

   We are ALL individually responsible for the correctness of any declaration of our total remuneration for tax purposes.

   Failure by an individual to declare ineligible expenses received as taxable remuneration and failure to pay tax on such income is liable to incur:
   1) a PENALTY – commensurate with the failure to declare taxable income
   2) an INVESTIGATION by HM Revenue and Customs.

   In this instance I would expect such an investigation to include both the individual and the organisation ie the Council and might well include:
   * ALL the Mayor’s expenses
   * ALL expenses signed off by the officer who is apparently unaware of the rules
   * a sample of all expenses claimed by ALL Councillors
   * a sample of expenses claimed by ALL senior managers etc

   On the journeys listed here you really need the time of day and the nature of the meeting before you can make a proper assessment of the validity of the claim.

   However, even without these, some of these are very clearly claims which would normally be given back to the person in question with a request that they review the rule book.

   I’d also expect ANY officer who signs off a significant number of claims for significant sums of money which do not comply with Council rules to face a formal investigation and disciplinary hearing. In the case of the Head of the Mayor’s office – and given that expenses are involved – an appropriate person to conduct an investigation would be the Chief Internal Auditor.

   Might the Honourable Councillors – of whatever political persuasion – like to consider the proposal of an automatic ceiling on:
   * ALL taxi expenses incurred within the borough
   * ALL taxi expenses incurred within London.

   I’d like to suggest £25 as a limit. Any advance on that?

   Also – and this may make a few Councillors’ hearts skip a beat – I seem to recall anybody can report evidence of what looks like tax evasion to HM Revenue with a suggestion that they might wish to investigate the tax affairs of a specific individual.
   see http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/tax-evasion/hotline.htm

   
   
8. on February 26, 2013 at 1:54 am Curious Cat

   Why doesn’t the Mayor ride a bike like I do or get a nice Piaggio Liberty 50cc moped ? Its much cheaper.

   
   
   • on February 26, 2013 at 10:42 am You couldn't make it up!

     Maybe they could make it mandatory that all Councillor travel within the borough should be via Boris Bike unless they have a note from the doctor? They can opt to do otherwise – but only at their own expense – not ours!

     
     
9. on February 26, 2013 at 3:30 am Face Off

   £2789.00 on Taxi fares, I think that would pay for 1,468 kids school meals at £1.90 a meal!
   Are councillors permitted to use taxi’s to get their lunches chaffeured at a cost if £28.00? And why Commercial Rd when a McDonalds is around the corner at Billingsgate Market?
   Disgusting.
   Can you please scritinise all cabinet members and produce a league table of taxi fares. We need to know where they all stand on this so that they can explain themselves.
   And that last jolly from the Town Hall to the Tower of London at a cost of £121.00, how can any decent human being even begin to try justify that one is beyond me?
   Looking at these figures and respective journeys, I doubt the taxpayer shall be saving much money by moving the Town Hall to Commercial Road – err, except perhaps the tab for the McDonalds journey cab!

   
   
   • on February 26, 2013 at 7:53 am Grave Maurice

     He can’t use public transport because people would spit in his face. He’s afraid. Simple as.

     
     
10. on February 26, 2013 at 10:51 am stewart rayment

    I’ve been out of the Smoke for a while, but some of these taxi fares seem unrealistic to me. Is somebody else milking the system? How many taxi firms involved?

    
    
11. on February 26, 2013 at 12:45 pm Sparra

    I think the name of the taxi firm should also be listed and that prices can be validated; and who owns these firms?

    
    
12. on February 26, 2013 at 5:32 pm Konnu

    The fares are ridiculous. I thought he had a Merc?

    Pedant’s point: Ted, you’d have to be an Olympic runner to get from Brick Lane to East London Mosque in less than 2 minutes. But the route by taxi would have to be quite circuitous, I can’t see how a taxi could be quicker than walking.

    Are these really the fares a London cab would charge?

    
    
    • on February 26, 2013 at 5:37 pm trialbyjeory

      I think it’s clear the meter has been left running.

      If so, it has shown a total disregard for the public’s money. I think it renders them unfit for office to be honest.

      The cabinet councillors seem to think their allowances are in fact their salaries, money that can’t be touched.

      
      
      • on February 26, 2013 at 6:28 pm Tim

        Hadn’t considered the ‘meter left running’ option. It does make perfect sense though.

        Making him unfit for office … hmmmm. May I politely suggest that there are quite a number of other things that makes him unfit for office, and this waste of cash is trivial by comparison to many, many others? (I don’t disagree with the underlying premise though.)

        Konnu – yes, these date from the days before he had his £70-a-day Merc. (Although – and here’s a bit of maths – these taxi figures are for 7 months of time – Nov ’10 to May ’11, and come to £2789. In a similar period of 7 months he will spend around £14,700 on his merc, over FIVE times as much. If we are getting excited about these taxi fares then we are possibly looking at the wrong figures … )

        Tim.

        
        
      • on February 26, 2013 at 8:09 pm JF

        …meanwhile the LGBCE has published all the responses from local organisations and local residents to the draft recommendations they made for Tower Hamlets back in November. Most of the responders are either opposing the St. Dunstan name-drop or supporting the proposal for a one-member ward in Spitalfields (with Liberties). It is interesting reading.

        
        
13. on February 28, 2013 at 10:59 am david

    I think this article is DEELY OFFENSIVE to:
    a) chocolate
    b) teapots

    Keep up the good work!

    
    
14. on March 11, 2013 at 12:39 pm david

    http://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/tower-hamlets-mayor-lutfur-rahman-claimed-taxi-expenses-of-71-for-a-400-metre-trip-8528536.html

    
    
15. on April 2, 2013 at 4:43 pm Robert

    Call me stupid, naive and many other things, but if all this money is coming from our council tax (among other things), why don’t we begin a council tax boycott? Do it properly and with enough people (a la poll tax c.1990, but not quite as violently, maybe). We could even contribute what we would have given to an independent bank account (to show that we do want to pay the tax and so fund “vital council services”, and which can then be given the to Council when all is happily resolved). What about getting the disatisfied Tories and Labour boys and girls to administer it. Imagine…just saw a pig flying outside, must go and look.

    
    

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