Council vans (vehicles)for comuting to work

Loughton_Monkey

Kennyboy66 wrote: »

How come housing associations (normally ex council stock) which charge less rent than private landlords, each year show a surplus ?

It's been 25 years since councils could subsidise rents from council tax / rates.


http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/858c6488-406e-11e2-8f90-00144feabdc0.html#axzz2qZ8vhBue

"in all probability" ie wrong.

Two points:

1. I was specifically talking about councils. Housing Assocaitions do have to issue reports and accounts and so probably control their costs. Any previous ownership of their houses is irrelevant.

2. Housing Associations showing a profit? If I bought a nice new BTL house from Barratts for, say, £200K and you gave me a "social housing grant" of, say, £80K, then I have an inkling I could show a profit on it. Don't you?

Back to councils, I happen to think that an £80K salary for a maintenance guy is a bit steep don't you? [See Haringey Council]

fed_up_and_stressed

fabricator wrote: »

Should we give all emergency personnel a emergency vehicle to commute as well
Not every person working in the council is on call they are not in sales so why are they allowed to use vehicles payed by the tax payer
And add tyre and servicing costs because they will be needed sooner then the cost escalates further
I pay my council tax for services not so an employee can have free transport to work

So what you are proposing is the all council vechicles are held in a central pound where on call staff would have to service this pound and monitor it to sign in /out these vehicles.

You are making a MASSIVE assumption that your council don't make employees "knock off" their commute to work mileage when using these vehicles.

I know when claiming mileage in (private firms) we have always had a mileage allowance given when a works vehicle but mileage could only be claimed after the normal office commute distance had been completed. E.g travel to clients base 10 miles away office is based 9 miles so potential claim for mileage 1 mile .

I'd much rather they hop in a van and drive straight to my house and be a proactive responsive service rather a workman having to go to a service yard (probably miles away) wait to get a vehicle booked out then drive to my house in a crisis.

Suggest you contact council directly to find out what their policy is if it upsets you so much rather than making assumptions about what "may be happening" and pouring scorn on an internet forum. Just saying.

adouglasmhor

fabricator wrote: »

Its what i have to do,the dept by my place of work is the parks dept some how i cant see they would be on call to go and mow some field somwhere in the dead of night.certain dept need the vans i am talking in general where it seems you can use council vehicles to commute to work its not right and can save thousands of pounds which can be spent where needed eg care homes

The parks workers near me get called in if there is a frost or snow warning and man the gritters and tractors of all sizes with grit spreaders, grit footpaths all over the area and especially the hospital and grit roads, also the arbours squad use other park workers as labourers under supervision clearing dangerous or fallen trees after storms. Some of the workers have a crew cab van/pick up home with them and a designated pick up route for other workers, public transport not being fantastic at 2 in the morning.

bugslet

alleycat` wrote: »

Insurance wise are they allowed to be left on the road over night?

I thought there were rules about "commercial" vehicles getting parked up outside a locked yard overnight?

.

Insurance, that would depend on what the council declare to their Insurers.

You are possibly thinking about vehicles over 3.5 ton that need to be on an Operators License and have an Operating Centre, and as these are vans, they aren't required to be on an Operators License.

Graham_Devon wrote: »

. You could find however, that driving a van to an dfrom a yard each day is a longer distance than having the van at home. You don't seem to have thought about this.

Occasionally we allow our drivers to take a van home ( insurance know) depending on the circumstances. It can save us money in terms of fuel and overtime depending on what the driver is doing the next day.

Without knowing the ins and outs of what the council workers are doing, it's difficult to determine any costs or savings.

Nick_C

I used to work for a local authority, in the business group that was responsible for the Council's fleet. We simply didn't have the space for all our vehicles to be parked on Council land, so small vehicles - anything up to 3.5 tonnes - were taken home and parked on the street.

Parking all our fleet on site would have been high risk. We could have lost the entire fleet in a fire, causing severe logistical problems.

If you are talking about small (car sized) vans, they are likely to be diesel or LPG, and should get significantly more than 30 mpg.

Local authorities buy fuel at wholesale prices.

Our vehicles were all fitted with trackers, and use was monitored to prevent abuse.

Allowing staff to take the vehicles home eliminates delays and non attendance due to public transport problems and increases staff availability.

Many Council staff work unsocial hours and need to be able to drive to work at times when public transport is not readily available. I worked in inner London, but in rural areas, this would be even more problematic.

Believe it or not, local authorities employ commercially aware managers who know what they are doing, and are subject to financial constraints that many private sector staff will not have experienced. It may not always appear that way to an outsider, but its easy to misinterpret something without understand the business and the constraints that it has to work under.

onlyroz

I have a neighbour who drives a "Wokingham Borough Council" flat-bed truck used for collecting leaves and branches and other green waste from god-knows-where. The sodding thing is parked down our private road taking up two of our parking spaces. I'd certainly prefer it if he parked it up wherever he works and drove his own car to and from there.

StuC75

Your calculation is also wrong in that the figure for 100 is Ten Times out...

100 x £33.96 = £3,396 x 52 weeks = £176,592.. Not quite the 1.76 million..

plus this would be pro-rata from the distance to the central site - but then how do you account for if the first \ last job of the day is closer to the home or depot.. would the council also need to provide more on site parking for the staffs usual vehicles - rather than having more space for the depot and any supplies needed...

Don't forget how such costs may be tax deductible, especially VAT as assume your gallon price is pump prices?

Also staff are likely to have some form a taxable benefit on the use of the van / heavily tracked to deter personal usage..

fabricator wrote: »

My calculation is wrong
£33,960 x 52 weeks = £1,765,922 a year OMG it's a hell of a lot of money
Multiply this by how many councils are letting this go on and it's a stagering amount of tax payers money

antrobus

Kennyboy66 wrote: »

How come housing associations (normally ex council stock) which charge less rent than private landlords, each year show a surplus ?...

Well let's see, shall we actually read the article you cite;

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/858c6488-406e-11e2-8f90-00144feabdc0.html

It might have something to with the fact that "over the past 30 years" HAs "have accumulated government grants of £51bn on their books". That's £51 billion worth of free capital.

Or maybe it's that HAs are "increasingly moving into new areas of operation such as private rent and development for market sale, in a search for profits".

fabricator

Calculation is 100 x £339.60
Again valid points from all
I am NOT saying that every single vehicle i see should be parked up in a yard YES some departments will work more efficiently if they are taken home, YES different departments do a great much needed service in time of crisis
I read the local paper and every day there is an article about council cutting costs jobs being cut organisations having funding reduced or even stopped completely,care homes closing and so on this is what upsets me, if i have offended anyone i appologise
As i have said if my calculation of costs which is without proof and is JUST a made up calculation is anywhere near truth then money can be saved and could help other areas in need of help
I take on board everyones points of view i may not be the most educated person on here but i care and feel for the people effected by the cuts and this thread is my point of view

ukcarper

fabricator wrote: »

Calculation is 100 x £339.60
Again valid points from all
I am NOT saying that every single vehicle i see should be parked up in a yard YES some departments will work more efficiently if they are taken home, YES different departments do a great much needed service in time of crisis
I read the local paper and every day there is an article about council cutting costs jobs being cut organisations having funding reduced or even stopped completely,care homes closing and so on this is what upsets me, if i have offended anyone i appologise
As i have said if my calculation of costs which is without proof and is JUST a made up calculation is anywhere near truth then money can be saved and could help other areas in need of help
I take on board everyones points of view i may not be the most educated person on here but i care and feel for the people effected by the cuts and this thread is my point of view

Have you not seen error in that.