Leader: Time to end the British rip-off culture
We should be doing everything in our power to help cash-strapped families during this time of recession. So it is depressing to see that Rip-off Britain is still very much alive and kicking.
We should be doing everything in our power to help cash-strapped families during this time of recession. So it is depressing to see that Rip-off Britain is still very much alive and kicking.
Today, it emerges that some of the biggest names in the fashion industry are charging up to 60 per cent more for their goods in Britain, compared with other countries.
And that is just the latest injustice to add to an ever-growing mountain of misery.
Chancers hoping to make a quick inflated buck before we either notice, or can do anything about it, seem to lurk everywhere.
Take the utilities. British Gas wants to increase energy bills again, while approving multi-million pound pay packages for its bosses.
It is costing us more than ever to park at hospitals, railway stations and shopping centres, broadband speeds in Shropshire rarely live up to their promises, and mindless ‘elf and safety’ legislation seems to be a licence for consultants to print money, usually at our expense.
And if we want to complain about such troubles, we often have to call a premium-rate phone line, which keeps us on hold for long periods, while telling us our call is ‘very important to them’.
Enough is enough. The time has come to get a grip on Britain’s surcharge culture before we all suffer.
No-one begrudges a company making a fair profit; for all the coalition’s cost-cutting, it is the only true way our economy will be dragged out of its double-dip recession. But it must never be done in an underhand, or predatory way.
When he was in opposition, Vince Cable made great play of condemning successive governments for failing to tackle price hikes for UK consumers.
But since moving into the Business Secreatry’s seat of power, there has been little evidence of action.
Voluntary codes of conduct do exist, but they are toothless, and pointless.
Comments for: "Leader: Time to end the British rip-off culture "
Rob, Telford
William Hague's got the answer - "we've all got to work harder".
I wonder if this is supposed to apply to the directors and chief executives who've given themselves pay rises of 1,000s of per cent over the last few years (sorry, I forgot, they were "performance-related"....).
Roger
We can start with the monopolistic or. Foreign owned utilities. Water obviously tops the list closely followed by gas and electricity. Think about what percentage of your income these companies take. More important than what we do about the existing rip off merchants, is to prevent the next generation. IE. The NHS. Do not allow the money grabbers to salami slice and cherry pick our cherished NHS bringing about chaos which no one is responsible for. Bring Dentists and Opticians back into public ownership. I don't mean punish them with the minimum wages but give them a fair salary and open up access for all at an affordable charge.
I know there are plenty of other area's which you probably intended to address and The Shropshire Star is in the best position to deal with them through publishing and exposure. New car sales and servicing come to mind.
There is also the politically impossible but utterly essential question of "An affordable integrated public transport system" which can be debated endlessly.
Andrew finch
The writer has got it spot unfortunately he is describing the UK of the last 5-or so years.
Everything possible is seen as an opportunity to relieve people of money.
Car park machines that charge as an example £3.60 and do not give change,
Museums they should be free for all to access we pay for them through our taxes.
pubs chargeing people access on new years eve whats that all about??
You cancel your dd to a utilities company as you wish it to come from another bank account you are charged by the utilities company.
We seem to have a culture now where every angle is looked at by a business to try and get money out of joe public, as said enough is enough you would not get away with half the things they do in the UK if you lived in France they just would not put up with it .
These poor people who were charged these awful charges by the banks £35 for bouncing a d/d for £2 because you were 20 p short .
TV licence
car insurance for the young
Down to recycling your own rubbish when you pay your local council to do it .
I recently rang an established shrewsbury electrical company if they could give me a quote for a repair to a dishwasher , he came out and gave a quote i got two others and went with the one in the middle , 3 weeks later the first guy rang me up and asked for my address ? i asked why to which he replied "to send you the bill " to which i asked "bill for what? " "for the quote" he replied "how much is the quote" i asked "£45 he replied sling your hook i said , sick to the back teeth of these gits out to rip you off.How many old dears have paid for a quote ??and had nothing done .
JOHN JONES
Andrew, £45, I would have asked him to call around, then used more suitable words.
zz94
"Rip off Britain"
£109,000 PA for a council job at Telford?
That is four times the median wage. Or to put it another way one-hundred and nine local residents council tax.
They only interviewed one person and how much did the interview cost?
A Doctor only earns that much and they have to put in up to seventy hours a week.
Roger
We have finished that thread and after careful debate I think we concluded that the job is worth the money if the job is done properly. The qualifications cited in thread seem to be met by the appointed person but only one interview could be a problem. I prefer to believe in this case that the winner having done the job on a temporary basis has earned the right to get it because she has demonstrated her abilities. The other applicants were sifted out for what I assume are good reasons. If going through the process or advertising, applying, sifting and interviewing will take so long the incumbent has been there for two years it would be difficult or impossible to displace her. So the practical answer is to appoint the incumbent.
R Suppards
I dunno about any of this, but I'm going to be opening off licences a few yards this side of the Scottish border!
Gary
At least the Scots will have street lighting to help them find you.
John Howard
Welcome to what businesses have called "Treasure Island" for years. High population density, isolated from Europe by 20 miles of water, tax system skewed so that the poorest pay and the rich can avoid, if not evade, their share of the burden. Find the price of anything in the USA in Dollars and it will cost the same in the UK in Pounds. That's at least 50% more expensive. We don't protest or riot as the French would do. Sit back and be mugged!!
Katherine de Gama
Erm, I has shocked to find that a pub in the Forest of Deam (hardly a wealthy area)was charging £13.95 for cottage pie! We shared a starter and a bowl of chips.
I diasagree with the leader writer's comment on health and safety. I was in A and E with someone last weekend who was almost blinded when doing a safety inspection on inadequately maintained fire extinguishers. It costs but it's worth every penny.
JOHN JONES
Come the revolution brothers!!!!!!!!!
Karlos Marx
You can thank Maggie and her destructive free-market capitalism for the UK's greedy rip-off culture. It's time for rich people to start sharing their wealth instead of stealing it from the poor and destitute.
Ad Mant
good luck sunshine. you may have noticed the iron curtain fell some time ago - kinda proving that socialism doesnt work. the uk needs to compete and it will only do this by stemming the number of leeches it has on the system. there is no doubt we are a meal ticket for unscrupulous wheeler dealers, but why does our government not put pressure on energy companies, banks etc to reduce costs, oh, because they are doing the exact same thing !! roll on the revolution !!
Peter
It depends upon where you think the leeches are.
It remains a fact that 95% of the UK's wealth is in the hands of just 5% of the people.
In order to redress that balance - and in the end we must do so - we need to use the taxation system to ensure that there is a redistribution of wealth.
There's no reason why we couldn't have a much fairer tax system which would reward hard work, skills etc., but proportionately. Unfortunately such a system would mean some belt-tightening for those that make money simply from having lots of it to begin with, or who make it by gambling with the livelihoods of the rest of us.
We have a government who are there to repreesent the 5% with the wealth, not the 95% without. We will never get out of recession until we start to squeeze some of the wealth back out of the people who caused it - let's face it, they can well afford it.
dee
Everything possible is seen as an opportunity to relieve people of money.
Watch it ,yes !!
In germany they also try this - people are a bit more kicking than the brits ...
Ken Adams
Yes Rip off Britain, but lots of the worse cheats are caused by government policies, and those we cannot avoid, they also have the effect of increasing the price of everything else .
It is government policy to limit the use of fuels, energy and water, the method chosen is increase in costs, as these polices are EU based, changing our government will not bring any relief.
None of our recent governments have stood up for the ordinary person, so it is no surprise that Vince Cable has taken no action, the real surprise is that people still believe what they are told by these people when seeking our votes.
Peter
Really Ken?
Is it the EU who demand that we cut tax for the wealthiest, or who demand that we allow big business to avoid tax on a grand scale, and who leave us to pick up the resulting deficit, either by paying more tax or by losing essential services? I think you'll find that those laws are very much home-grown. Take a look on the iplayer at this week's Panorama 'The Truth About Tax' if you want to see how it works.
As well as that you'll be aware I'm sure that parties and groupings of the right, such as UKIP and the Taxpayers' Alliance, both of which were founded by, and in the interests of, big business, are very much in favour of continuing with lower taxes for big business, despite that fact that this doesn't result in more jobs and simply bleeds the rest of us dry.
Please don't pretend that UKIP stands up for the ordinary person - in the highly unlikely event that they ever got to power, we would see the minimum wage scrapped, and all sorts of other legislation to protect ordinary people simply wiped from the statute books. Don't forget, Godfrey Bloom, one of the UKIP's Euro MPs called for women of child-bearing age not to be employed!
We've tried the 'let the market decide' approach for too long. Unfortunately the market decides that the very wealthy should continue to get exponentially richer at the expense of the rest. That's unsustainable.
Ken Adams
I do tend to agree with a lot of what you say Peter, but I think you will find the influence of the EU goes a great deal further than employment law, as the EU is fundamentally opposed to nation states, the impact EU of policy manifests itself in every area of government competence reducing the options available to any administration.
I have been campaigning against the EU for several years now and as always someone pops up and points to an area not yet fully controlled by the EU as if that somehow negates the whole argument. Tax is an area not yet full controlled by the EU, but that is exactly what all this business of saving the Euro is about, to further the political integration of member states this time it is greater fiscal union.