Another MP who thinks first class travel is their right.

[0liverb0liverbuttface]

www.shropshirestar.com/news/2012/10/26/rail-fares-for-shropshire-mps-revealed/

His response was that it allowed him to work as the wifi is free...but it only costs £20 for a month when travelling in standard on virgin.

Also his assertion that 1st class is cheaper if booked ahead...cheaper than if booked at short notice yes, but still not cheaper than standard.

Other Public Sector workers aren't allowed to travel first class so thy can work - as the government dismiss this reason as a fallacy. So why can badger culling Daniel?

What do you think?

I do agree with madwoman and Edgar though

many people work in second class. i don't understand why its so much harder for MP's. You download docs/emails onto your PC before you travel, work on them, save and send once you have internet access. you do the non-sensitive docs on the train. Or sit in such a way that people can't see your screen.

the 'need to work' argument for ministers rather fell apart when the Chancellor was caught sitting in first with a second class ticket while watching an apparently hilarious video with his adviser, though.

Oliver's right, it is the hypocrisy which is particularly galling.

in case anyone missed it

Hello Edam

Hello you!

So was RTchoke actually Daniel...?

Dreaming - how lovely that you can get an actual seat in cattle. I once had to stand on one leg for two hours as there wasn't even enough room to put the second one on the floor. Ah, the good old days... Thankfully it wasn't for the entirety of the trip from Glasgow to London, just after Birmingham New Street.

I miss trains.

madwoman - you should have complained to your MP. They should be sorting things like this out

I don't begrudge him a first class ticket, as long as it was a sensible option based on the price difference and the likelihood of him being able to work in Standard class.

I am a civil servant. I am not allowed first class travel even when it is cheaper than standard, because the media and the public regularly ask how much my Department has spent on First Class travel and write disparaging stories about it. So the rule is to buy a Standard ticket regardless. It is completely stupid, but necessary to protect the reputation of the Department.

If we stopped scrutinising every detail and looked at the bigger picture (maybe year on year reductions in the number and total cost of journeys?) rather than celebrating scandalous headlines about public sector 'perks', we'd all have a better idea of what actually goes on, which is a bunch of mostly-well qualified, mostly-well intentioned, mostly-hardworking public and civil servants working to make the most improvements at the lowest cost. I promise you we're not all lazy T&S abusing idiots!

Happy - if all MP's were as you described I'm sure that would be fine. However, we've seen some recent examples where people have totally abused the somewhat lax systems. seeming to think they are above the law.

It amazes me how slow the public sector has been to use new technology. I've barely traveled at all in the last year at work because the company I work for has stopped T&S altogether unless you are meeting a customer. Many of our public sector customers barely use conferencing at all though

Dreaming - who are your public sector customers? Because they are clearly not the norm - the public sector have been using conferencing as a preference to travel for several years now. Unfortunately not everything can be done via telephone or video conferencing.

You seem to jump very quickly to criticise without a lot of proof!

happy you are missing the point somewhat! You are totally right, but the point is that the excessive press coverage, finger pointing and general demonisation of the public sector has been created by this government to justify swingeing cuts to jobs and t&c. That they then continue with the behaviour they criticised the rest of the public sector for - that is gross hypocrisy and what this thread is about. Not whether or not in rationale and well balanced society Daniel should be able to travel in first class.