Fines to councils

[Chris Ashdown]

What the hell is going on, Today Cambridge council fined £6 million for a Failing, same with Water companies, Railways and many other service companies, all get massive fines for incompetence .

Sorry mistyped its not the companies who pay the fines but the innocent ratepayers who pay the whole fine for the service companies be the councils or other public like companies

Its about time these stupid fines be stopped and the Directors who are found to be lacking should be personally fined or jailed. a director is totally responsible for the total running of their company

 

[Mark T Jones]

I've often thought the same

Fining public bodies is fining the taxpayer (or at best, redistribution of tax funds)

 

[Newchodge]

I have always thought that it is mad that government bodies (and local authorities) have to pay employers' NI.

 

[numbersrule]

What the hell is going on, Today Cambridge council fined £6 million for a Failing, same with Water companies, Railways and many other service companies, all get massive fines for incompetence .

Sorry mistyped its not the companies who pay the fines but the innocent ratepayers who pay the whole fine for the service companies be the councils or other public like companies

Its about time these stupid fines be stopped and the Directors who are found to be lacking should be personally fined or jailed. a director is totally responsible for the total running of their company

I think we are facing a serious timebomb. It seems to me that it is not incompetence in and of itself, because there are plenty of intelligent and potentially diligent people around. The problem is that too many intelligent and potentially diligent people are being bombarded by distractions.

What has happened is that the Internet and digital space more widely has opened up a myriad of possibilities which have ended up with people losing their focus. People can't focus any more and there are a multitude of examples of this lack of focus leading to a lack of discipline and ultimately to widespread poor performance.

 

[TCH]

the intention, I suppose, is that incompetent councillors will be voted out of office

not that it happens

 

[WaveJumper]

Having been in a position where I have had to work very closely with councils over the years (in a past life) I can say with all seriousness I have found them (especially London) to be either totally corrupt or totally inept at the highest level.

Ive held a view for many years that every rate payer should be forced to attend a council meeting, they would wonder - one why the hell they are voting for these clowns and two - why the hell are we paying them so much.

In any "normal" company I've worked for they wouldn't last more than five minutes before being shown the door. I could pretty much say the same for a lot of the MPs we have too.

 

[thetiger2015]

the intention, I suppose, is that incompetent councillors will be voted out of office

not that it happens

That's the problem though. We don't have a fully active and engaged democracy, we have one where you can only vote for a very small number of people who are just as incompetent as the others.

Our local council has had the same faces for decades and it disenfranchises younger people, as the system is setup to protect the status quo.

 

[BubbaWY]

Having been in a position where I have had to work very closely with councils over the years (in a past life) I can say with all seriousness I have found them (especially London) to be either totally corrupt or totally inept at the highest level.

For the last few months Ive been dealing with my local council, and another local authority on the east coast, and I could write a book on their incompetence. Some of it would be unbelievable.

In my case I am not sure about corrupt, but certainly inadequate/inept/incompetent...however you want to describe it and no matter at what level you deal with. Whether the leader, a chief officer, a councillor or a employee. I can feel my blood starting to boil as I type this so I will end by agreeing that they wouldnt last 5 minutes in the private sector.

 

[WaveJumper]

For the last few months Ive been dealing with my local council, and another local authority on the east coast, and I could write a book on their incompetence. Some of it would be unbelievable.

In my case I am not sure about corrupt, but certainly inadequate/inept/incompetent...however you want to describe it and no matter at what level you deal with. Whether the leader, a chief officer, a councillor or a employee. I can feel my blood starting to boil as I type this so I will end by agreeing that they wouldnt last 5 minutes in the private sector.

Yep I know that feeling well, and when you actually relay some stories to friends they can't believe it. back in the day working for one of the largest property funds around I can tell you it was quite an eye opener and you wonder how anything ever got done.

Like you I could right a book on it, one silly little story that won't come back to bite me - attending council meetings in a certain north London location one particular councillor was always seeking me out before meetings got underway, he would then always sit next to me (and whats the issue with that I hear you say) well funny how this councillor spoke perfect English when talking to me, but once the formal meeting got underway he acutely had an interpreter come in (yep paid for by the council) the councillor never uttered another word of English until he left the room.

It was a total farce