It would seem that Ken has had to pay Crapita £31 mill, because the poor
ickle darlings weren't making as much money as they'd hoped for. Why?
Because (a) the in-zone traffic as fallen by 16%, not the 10-15%
forecast, and (b) less penalty fines are being dished out (whether due
to the fundamental honesty of British drivers, or due to Crapita's
legendary incompetence, is not made clear)

Full story he
http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_804435.html


--
"EDS herding cats? EDS couldn't herd a tortoise in a barrel
without ****ing it up!" - Anon

I suspect their system doesn't work anything like the claimed 85% reg. No.
recognition, hence not enough fines.
Of course they are keeping the actual numbers secret, as long as most people
fear the fine, they will pay up,
until someone blows the whistle...
Regards,
Martin

"Ade V" wrote in message
news:MPG.1990e1503aa60134989df0@slave...
It would seem that Ken has had to pay Crapita £31 mill, because the poor
ickle darlings weren't making as much money as they'd hoped for. Why?
Because (a) the in-zone traffic as fallen by 16%, not the 10-15%
forecast, and (b) less penalty fines are being dished out (whether due
to the fundamental honesty of British drivers, or due to Crapita's
legendary incompetence, is not made clear)

Full story he
http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_804435.html



In fact, Capita are doing so badly that their profits are up almost 30% on
last year.

Whatever happened to the idea that Private companies take on some of the
risk involved in the business they are involved in? If they had to compete
in the real marketplace instead of having contracts handed to them by their
government friends, things might be different for Capita.

Having said that I am tempted to invest in them, I might get some of my tax
money back in Capita dividends! If you can't beat them, join them...

Financial Highlights

Six months ended Six months ended
Change
30 June 2003 30 June 2002
Turnover £532m £391m +
36%
Profit before tax* £51.1m £40.2m +
27%
Earnings per share* 5.38p 4.30p +
25%
Total dividend per share 1.3p 1.0p +
30%

* Before amortising goodwill


Rod Aldridge, Executive Chairman of The Capita Group Plc, commented:

"... Our market place is substantial, active and capable of supporting
long-term growth."

---- Meaning, we taxpayers have VERY deep pockets and they've only just
BEGUN tapping us.

Martin² writes
I suspect their system doesn't work anything like the claimed 85% reg. No.
recognition, hence not enough fines.
Of course they are keeping the actual numbers secret, as long as most people
fear the fine, they will pay up,
until someone blows the whistle...

Keeping which numbers secret? The number of PCNs issued?

http://www.tfl.gov.uk/pdfdocs/cc/cc-...nth-report.pdf

Yeah, stick the figures on a public website - that'll keep them secret.

--
Dave

Ade V wrote in news:MPG.1990e1503aa60134989df0@slave:

It would seem that Ken has had to pay Crapita £31 mill, because the poor
ickle darlings weren't making as much money as they'd hoped for. Why?
Because (a) the in-zone traffic as fallen by 16%, not the 10-15%
forecast, and (b) less penalty fines are being dished out (whether due
to the fundamental honesty of British drivers, or due to Crapita's
legendary incompetence, is not made clear)

Full story he
http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_804435.html



"Steve Norris, the Tory candidate for London Mayor, said: "There was always a
paradox at the heart of the scheme: the more successful it was in deterring
drivers, the less money would be available for public transport."

Doh-oh! Steve, if people are not paying the charge but still coming into
London perhaps they are paying to use public transport. You are either too
stupid to recognise this or are misrepresenting the truth and playing the
public for fools, either way it must surely rule yourself out for Mayor.

Huge wrote:

There are a number of people on these newsgroups, myself included, who
simply will not visit a town where cars are discouraged.

You're not missed.

Huge wrote:

There are a number of people on these newsgroups, myself included, who
simply will not visit a town where cars are discouraged. You only have
to look at the festering pit that is central Bedford to see that I am
not alone.

And many others who make day-to-day decisions to avoid such places without
it being consciously an issue of principle.

--
http://www.speedlimit.org.uk
"If laws are to be respected, they must be worthy of respect."

There are a number of people on these newsgroups, myself included, who
simply will not visit a town where cars are discouraged.

You're not missed.

Maybe, maybe not. Apparently inner London shops are demanding reduction in
business rates because of
lack of shoppers and reduced turnover...
Regards,
Martin

Dave wrote:
Keeping which numbers secret? The number of PCNs issued?

Nope, you did not comprehend my post.
It's the % of reg. No. numbers properly recognised.
(TfL claimed 85% to start with, doubted by experts and journalists)
Not mentioned it the report, why ?
Possibly because it's much lower ?
Regards,
Martin

Martin² wrote:
There are a number of people on these newsgroups, myself included, who
simply will not visit a town where cars are discouraged.


You're not missed.


Maybe, maybe not. Apparently inner London shops are demanding reduction in
business rates because of
lack of shoppers and reduced turnover...

Which might just have something to do with the awful state of the
economy at the moment.