Work trip - no food in hotel!

[Boxingshibes]

I'm way for work for the week. I'm staying in a hotel in the middle of nowhere. It took me 4 hours to get here in v hot trains.
Room and hotel lovely but I went down to the bar/ restaurant and asked about dinner- to be told as they have an event on the kitchen is closed.
They offered me a free drink but apologised and said unfortunately there are no takeaways that deliver.
I'm on a meal allowance. I'm pissed off!
And I'm having to pay £200 for taxis for the. Grr
I'm hot hungry and annoyed. Aibu?

Sorry to hear that. I think work need to know so they can make some sort of allowance for you. It seems selfish of them to make you go on these trips away if you struggle to afford food upfront and have caring responsibilities at home. Next time it’s maybe worth taking a couple of pot noodles, not great but there as an emergency and usually hotel rooms have kettles. Surprised if work know your situation they’ve not offered to try and help you with a pre paid card or something.

It’s maybe worth your partner going for UC and the LCWRA element if entitled. You’d get an extra seven hundred a month if you are entitled to both.

It's a difficult to have a conservation with work. They genuinely don't care.
I can manage the expectations. I'm lucky time at home then travel. I can usually manage .most places don't care if you have another responsibility.
I'm paid to deliver courses. I get marked on my delivery (if they like me) and pass rates.
I love my actual job but financially it can be difficult.

Sorry to hear that. It’s maybe worth going to citizens advice and seeing if your company legally should have a duty of care for stuff like this. They’ll also advice on whether your partner is claiming absolutely everything he’s entitled to, as he might not be.

What the hell! Surely you just present the receipt, what business of there’s is it whether you bought it with a credit card or a debit card?

@Boxingshibes I just wanted to say thanks for coming back to the thread. So many OP’s don’t. You sound like a hardworking person and I really admire you for supporting your family the way you do. Good luck for the future!

Maybe you should look for another job?
If they don't care why work for them?

You could get all the good things about your current role AND a decent company.

You're being used.

It's because we might not pay off the credit card as the money goes into a bank account and not straight off the card. Ironically probably to try to avoid people going into financial difficulties!

That’s still really weird. There are good reasons to use CC rather than DD cards when travelling (security, consumer protection), even apart from them being an entirely standard way to manage cash flow when being reimbursed expenses after they’ve been incurred.

I hope the training in a place remote from places for a meal and hotels which let people down without warning is a one-off for you.

@Boxingshibes with that amount of travelling I would be insisting on a company credit card. It is not fair that you should be out of pocket for 1 second, particularly as you are the main breadwinner and disabled family members.

I am assuming you have worked there for a while and they see you as trustworthy.

It’s not great, annoying - but happens all the time.

You need to stop making such a drama out of nothing. If you are travelling for work you are a professional traveller - you need a selection of credit cards and in the UK should at least be prepared to expense £500 per day, more likely £1,000. It’s completely on you to ensure you can cover normal work expenses before you take such a role and manage these minor things.

Utterly ridiculous.

@Rosscameasdoody thank you for that.
@jxpop665 so you have £5k for a week away just in case?
Back in the real world we do what we can.

Yes, typically have at least 5k going through expenses every month often much. more - as I say you need credit cards and enough float to pay them off if needed, but with weekly expenses it's typically not needed.

You don't need anything special, just think of it as standard short term savings - same for replacement washing machine, windows etc.

You must be on serious money if you can afford to put up to £1000 a day on expenses. Two days of your expenses would be a month's net salary for a lot of people!

Well, medium money, but think about a couple of days to Bristol - hotel will be 300-400 per day, train at least 200 return, meals at least 100 per day, taxis likely 100 per day, parking in station at least 30 per day.

Yes, business expenses are significant.

This would be an absolutely batshit take even if the OP hadn't already made it clear that she's a public sector worker and not earning big bucks.

As if public sector workers are staying in £400 a night hotels!

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We get travel and hotels booked for us. If mileage, then it's claim back but otherwise train ticket provided. I've become very used to premier inn meal deals!
I'm very used to expenses for travelling for work, with both last job and this job. Expenses don't have to be significant. Only if you choose them to be that way.

Although it sounds like a plan, you'd have to make sure any food you take to the EU is not fresh, so instead of cheese, get something tinned to go with your bread :)

My darling, can you really survive on just £1000 per day? My heart goes out for you I would simply refuse to travel if the company wouldn't cover my morning pound of caviar up front

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Just wondering if you work in the Civil Service based on where you said you were visiting. If so, have you looked into getting an expenses advance for your trips. Even if you got 50% upfront would help you out.

a vast majority of Civil Servants will be using Trips/CTM or similar for hotels & trains … charges directly to the Org. It’s cheaper for Govt Orgs to do it this way. I travel for work, and my expenses are minimal… one thing I have learned is to always have a Pot Noodle (or similar) in my bag, for situations like this.

I assume this is rage bait? If not go outside and touch grass.