To feel a tiny bit of pity for Nick Buckles (chief exec G4S) after reading this

[ontheedgeofwhatever]

Nick Buckles bucklesl

I mean how on earth did he ever get promoted so far beyond his capabilities and stuck in such a humiliating position? The Gods were having a laugh the day he got the job surely?

So AIBU to feel just a tiny trace of pity for this poor man or does he deserve every last bit of his misery?

he earns 1.2million a year to do this job, although thinking of some of the city bankers who caused so much trouble and huge financial losses I dont remember them being faced with this level of humiliation

he is being made the scapegoat for a lot of failures which is slightly unfair, the contract wasnt supervised correctly, surely it should have been checked that they were on track to meet the demands

I know the industry too and totally agree with Ginny.

They would have known as soon as they took the contract, there were ways around it but it would have left them with much less profit. Not an option as far as they were concerned clearly.

Nope, no sympathy.

I'm saving my sympathy for the people that have done the training, lost their benefits and now have no work.

Or those people that do have work - but nowhere to sleep off shift.

Or the Forces that have jumped from one deployment to another, losing leave, holidays and time with their families.

Or the Administrators of the Forces that are trying to fit 1200 bodies into 600 bedspaces.

Or the taxpayer that has just spent £250K on paper plates because the short notice meant there was no time to sort central feeding without them.

Or the sailors doing 18 hour shifts and then trying to sleep on plastic chairs in a brightly lit hall.

But for Nick Buckles? - Fuck All.

Good to see you bring that up Edam. G4S are fucking repulsive and I have been thrilled to see their name dragged through the mud. It's a shame they didn't get any of this hairdryer treatment in response to what was done to Jimmy Mubenga, but hey, it's no great news that it's easy to get away with treating black illegal immigrants like shit. I feel very sorry for the forces who are being messed about, and even sorrier for Jimmy Mubenga and his family. Nick Buckles, on the other hand, can fuck off.

Ginny and Tiwi - thanks for your informed perspectives. So it was a cynical ploy to trouser public money, then. In that case Nick Buckles can feck off even further.

If the reports are correct then they signed up initially to deliver 2,000 people. Perfectly doable. Only at the end of last year was it suddenly upped to 10,000. I would like to know how the required numbers were so drastically off in the first place. Five times more ffs.

Yes G4S could have said no to the government at that point, but you don't say no to the government. Not if you want to work for them again in the future.

No sympathy. I'm echoing LtEve

DH is a police officer. He was working with some G4S security guards last night, searching people entering a building for some (Olympic related) event.

He said they were all perfectly nice hard-working lads, but at once point someone stopped him and said "Mate, are we supposed to be searching ALL of them?"

"Er. Yes."

"What, like even the ones in suits? Because I've just been letting them go in...."

Buckles would be in the slammer if I had my way. He and G4S have done more to endanger the security of the UK and its visitors than...than...well: he needs a good Talking To, that's all.

No, I dont feel sorry for him one bit.

For 57 million pound I will gladly do the cock-up of the century, and suffer public humiliation for a month or so. If I was so inclined.

The real issue is: Who was in charge of vetting, and awarding him the contract?

Angel - no, you don't say no, I agree, but, you do say, 'we can't do that without sub contractor support - what level of vetting do you want for the Subbies?' You're crap in Security if you can't assess what you can realistically deliver.

At no point have G4S made any attempt to call in support from any other company, not even now. They're happy to let the Army and the Police come in, but they haven't thought of asking for Private help. Why not?

One phone call, one web search would give them a list of hundreds of excellent Private security firms in the UK - with all sorts of National and International quality recognition marks. The Approved Contractor thing I was talking before is a multi-day, 7 section, 80-odd point, scored system. It's brutal. It looks at everything a company does, from customer feedback to financial legitimacy to employment practices. Big companies have whole departments just to get them through it. Small ones really have their work cut out. And the SIA has a webpage called the 'Register of Approved Contractors'...

Have any of us had a phone call? No. Would any of us say no? Hell, no.

Will they ring - not a chance.

And what's worse is, some of the venues have firms already working there that could handle the requirements brilliantly, (Old Trafford, for example! - and I'm not with that firm, for the record) with experienced, site-familiar staff who are being asked to step aside for half-trained new guards who may not even show up.

Someone is far too interested in making G4S money and not nearly interested enough in providing adequate security.