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Fuel to work allowance

BPS666 said:
eodmatt said:
You were lucky. I was only allowed on claim a month at PTR to see my family when the army posted me and my family to Lodge Hill, Kent and a month later 33 posted me to Farnborough, Hants. And when I moved my family to Farnborough, 33 posted me temporarily to Brighton :x After 9 months, as I was about to move my family to Brighton, the bastards posted me back to Lodge Hill. By that time my daughter was doing well in school and I just didn't want to dislocate her education so I commuted from Farnborough to Lodge Hill daily for 3 years at my own expense - bar one poxy claim at PTR a month. :x :x When I left Brighton the MOD was closing the camp down and some basted nicked all the central heating oil. Apparently diesel cars will run on it. :)

It will mate but don't go expecting it to run for very long. Better off with chip fat and vodka in my opinion

Nah, One just needs to keep a ratio of 40% diesel in the tank, or add some engine oil (OMD 110 works a treat - allegedly) to the central heating oil and the engine runs fine (the Audi 6 cyl 2.4 litre diesel). Allegedly.

Please note: Vodka is for drinking!

I used to get used chip oil from Speedys Chinese takeaway in Farnborough, but had to filter the odd chip or burnt prawn out of it as well as a bit of sludge.
 
BPS666 said:
WB lets put it this way. My wife and I both serve. We are not same capbadge and thankfully we are posted together at this stage. Do you think it fair that when we are posted 80 miles apart (through no choice or fault of our own) that we shouldn't see each other or our kids?

This is a case no one would say you didn't deserve fuel allowance, and you deserve every penny of it. But if your only travelling 10 - 20 miles a day then I would say it is unreasonable. I would much rather see forces pay increased than have fuel allowance for journies that vast amount of civvies have to pay for themselves. Many of whom earn far less than the military.
 
eodmatt said:
BPS666 said:
eodmatt said:
You were lucky. I was only allowed on claim a month at PTR to see my family when the army posted me and my family to Lodge Hill, Kent and a month later 33 posted me to Farnborough, Hants. And when I moved my family to Farnborough, 33 posted me temporarily to Brighton :x After 9 months, as I was about to move my family to Brighton, the bastards posted me back to Lodge Hill. By that time my daughter was doing well in school and I just didn't want to dislocate her education so I commuted from Farnborough to Lodge Hill daily for 3 years at my own expense - bar one poxy claim at PTR a month. :x :x When I left Brighton the MOD was closing the camp down and some basted nicked all the central heating oil. Apparently diesel cars will run on it. :)

It will mate but don't go expecting it to run for very long. Better off with chip fat and vodka in my opinion

Nah, One just needs to keep a ratio of 40% diesel in the tank, or add some engine oil (OMD 110 works a treat - allegedly) to the central heating oil and the engine runs fine (the Audi 6 cyl 2.4 litre diesel). Allegedly.

Please note: Vodka is for drinking!

I used to get used chip oil from Speedys Chinese takeaway in Farnborough, but had to filter the odd chip or burnt prawn out of it as well as a bit of sludge.

Careful matt, WB will demand that the army stop eating chinky chips as there are side benefits that can be construed as perks

to be honest mate the vodka the mess supply us knocks out at 4€ a bottle and is only fit for adding to chip fat.
 
woolyback_bastard said:
BPS666 said:
WB lets put it this way. My wife and I both serve. We are not same capbadge and thankfully we are posted together at this stage. Do you think it fair that when we are posted 80 miles apart (through no choice or fault of our own) that we shouldn't see each other or our kids?

This is a case no one would say you didn't deserve fuel allowance, and you deserve every penny of it. But if your only travelling 10 - 20 miles a day then I would say it is unreasonable. I would much rather see forces pay increased than have fuel allowance for journies that vast amount of civvies have to pay for themselves. Many of whom earn far less than the military.

Mate you don't make any sense. Increase pay for every single person in the army regrardless of whether they travel or not or reimburse a % of the cost to those who have a mallocated quarter/ private residence? Which is cheaper to the tax payer do you think?
 
BPS666 said:
Mate you don't make any sense. Increase pay for every single person in the army regrardless of whether they travel or not or reimburse a % of the cost to those who have a mallocated quarter/ private residence? Which is cheaper to the tax payer do you think?

I would rather see the lads and lasses get a proper wage, and if this meant raising taxes to pay them I for one would be happy for that. The biggest fear as always is any extra money would not go into the back pockets of the men and women who deserve it but get swallowed up in beauracracy.
 
Civvy employers dont care where you live, you are supposed to be grown up enough to be at work. Some transport firms arranged discounted or free travel to encourage staff to live away from cities and many large employers do the season ticket loan.
Bearing in mind that hard life of service and risk to life apart, you are better paid now than in many years (I also agree its never enough) and in many cases better paid than civilian counterparts. None of my staff get discounted accom, subsidised meals or canteens, most are lucky to get PPE for free, that used to be purchased by the user.
Yes the service life isnt a normal job, its much more but for that loyalty and risk we do reward you fairly well, a decent pension that you get a lot earlier than those outside (one you havent contributed to) and great training and travel. Also when I left in the late 80's seniors were able to buy surplus quarters for a fraction of their true value.
Yes you shouldnt be taken for granted and have decent accom and also quarters but then when you make service life your career you do so knowing that it isnt always going to be sports afternoons and 3 day benders in Germany!
 
Ugly, I think you missed the point here. It wasnt service people complaining about lack of remuneration, it was WB calling res-pod a gravy train that set this all off.
 
I didnt miss the point, I wasnt digging at either, I was merely attempting to correct the view that some hold regarding civilian employers and their staff when compared to service personnel.
 
BPS666 said:
WB lets put it this way. My wife and I both serve. We are not same capbadge and thankfully we are posted together at this stage. Do you think it fair that when we are posted 80 miles apart (through no choice or fault of our own) that we shouldn't see each other or our kids?

Same as mate, in 4 weeks our joint posting ends, I get the lovely joy of commuting 67 miles, or choosing to go involsep.
The money I will get will in no way come close to compensating financially, never mind the missed family time.

As a civvi I would factor in the journey time for work before accepting a job, The army does not give that luxury.
 
as an ex serviceman I am used to planning working away from home, on contracts its the way I pay my stupid mortgage. I look at round trips of about 4 to 5 hours as the max before I lodge. As an employer I check that staff can make the journey otherwise I dont invest any time in them! That way when they jack or find a job closer to home I havent lost anything. If the rate is vor retention then look at the manning plans. Retention may not be popular and sickener postings the norm!
 
Blokeonabike said:
The residence to place of duty fuel allowance is almost impossible to make a profit on without committing some kind of fraud. For an average vehicle it does not even cover the cost of fuel, let alone depreciation/servicing etc. The per-mile allowance had been cut recently which makes no sense as fuel prices are higher.

the point is that 'home to duty' payments don't exist outside the military, even for 'essential' and 'emergency ' workers in very high cost areas

the only other cases of 'home to duty' payments in the civvie public sector and the private sector is where you can take a works vehicle home and whether it;s an allocated vehicle or a pool vehicle not have to put your home to work down as 'private' rather than business mileage

It used to be that, as a married serviceman/woman you would expect a quarter within walking/cycling distance of your workplace. Service personnel were not "expected" to own a vehicle. That is now no longer a valid model for a great proportion of the service community.

The allowance is only paid under specific circumstances and if your residence is over a certain distance (5 miles I believe although I could be wrong about the detail). Lets say you travel 25 miles, you get paid the allowance for only 20. Basically the allowance makes up for the fact that the Army cannot provide adequate quarters both in terms of quality, quantity and location.

still a bit of a la-la land explanation ... but the cultural norms of the military need to be adjusted and while crab air still has many quarters inside the wire ... that said in certain cases e.g. Lincolnshire they might be inside the wire but it;s inside the wire of another camp the other side of the city ...

There are other travel allowances that account for, for instance, leave travel and so on. All such allowances are carefully scrutinised as part of the remuneration package and are paid as compensation for the unique circumstances of military life.

leave travel allowances are much more easy to rationalise as are relocation expenses - as this are commonly paid in the wider public sector and the private the sector
 
armr617 said:
BPS666 said:
WB lets put it this way. My wife and I both serve. We are not same capbadge and thankfully we are posted together at this stage. Do you think it fair that when we are posted 80 miles apart (through no choice or fault of our own) that we shouldn't see each other or our kids?

Same as mate, in 4 weeks our joint posting ends, I get the lovely joy of commuting 67 miles, or choosing to go involsep.
The money I will get will in no way come close to compensating financially, never mind the missed family time.

As a civvi I would factor in the journey time for work before accepting a job, The army does not give that luxury.

no becasue i nthe real world when something like that happens one half either mans up and puts up or you move to split the distance ...
 
mph1977 said:
armr617 said:
BPS666 said:
WB lets put it this way. My wife and I both serve. We are not same capbadge and thankfully we are posted together at this stage. Do you think it fair that when we are posted 80 miles apart (through no choice or fault of our own) that we shouldn't see each other or our kids?

Same as mate, in 4 weeks our joint posting ends, I get the lovely joy of commuting 67 miles, or choosing to go involsep.
The money I will get will in no way come close to compensating financially, never mind the missed family time.

As a civvi I would factor in the journey time for work before accepting a job, The army does not give that luxury.

no becasue i nthe real world when something like that happens one half either mans up and puts up or you move to split the distance ...

I can't see how this fuel allowance is any different to what the politicians where claiming for as travel expenses and many on this site and the general public wanted to hang them for it.
 
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