back to article No refunds for ID card pioneers

The government is set to refuse refunds to people who have forked out good money for ID cards. There will be a bill to abolish the cards, along with electoral and parliamentary reform - a move to equally-populated constituencies and to the Alternative Vote system - in the Queen's Speech tomorrow. But thousands of people …

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  1. Bob H
    WTF?

    Hmmm...

    As I understand it they are still valid, so why would anyone need a refund?

    In addition, when it passes it's expiry date then it will be worth a fortune, like a misprinted bank note!

    Wish I had one.

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Ask Labour for a refund

    Labour pressed ahead with this mad ID card scheme without a mandate from the public and despite clear warnings from all the other parties that they would abandon the project. If Labour did this for themselves, they should pay for it too.

    1. Marky W
      Stop

      Nice try, but...

      Political Party != Government

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Stop

        Semantically speaking, you are right...

        but the Labour party formed the Government that allowed the Civil Service to pursue this ill-conceived scheme. The OP was wrong because the Labour Government (see what I did there?) were mandated to govern the country by a majority vote, and by extension were mandated by those same voters to turn the country into Oceana. The populace always get the government they vote for...

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Change without mandate = betrayal

          @AC: "The populace always get the government they vote for..."

          Allow me to clarify why I hold Labour to account for this. We elect governments on the basis of their policies and perceived integrity. That provides the elected government with a mandate to proceed with its policies. An elected government can't turn its back on election policies and say, "great, now we are in office we can do as we please". It would no longer be the government people voted for.

          Labour endeavoured to make sweeping changes to this country that were never debated or presented to the public (to provide a mandate for those changes). It also ignored growing calls for debate or justification, misrepresented the extent of the changes, and presented misleading statistics.

          Friends and associates I spoke to about the ID card and linked database had almost no idea what Labour was doing, and were shocked when I presented the facts. Then, at various stages, Labour made statements that seemed to indicate it had stopped the scheme. When others expressed relief to me, I had to point out that nothing had changed and the scheme was still ploughing ahead. Again, the reaction was shock.

          Labour betrayed the country by its actions and should be held to account.

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            @Ralph 5

            I agree that Labour are in fact culpable and in reading back my initial post, I don't think I made that clear. However, I still disagree that Labour had no mandate over ID cards. Politically, they didn't say that they wouldn't introduce ID cards and databases -- they didn't say that they would either. Please note that I don't think that exonerates them at all, I just think that to claim that they pursued this without public mandate is spurious.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      How much, then...

      how much, then , do we charge the Tory party for the destruction of the national rail network, among *many* other sins!

      1. Anonymous Coward
        FAIL

        Do be quiet!

        The railways were privatised under Labour and it was actually Wilson that went back on a promise over Beeching's Axe, closing the vast majority of the rail network! Labour supporters have never dealt in 'fact' (not that Tory supporters do either!), the reverence of Campbell within the party it testament to that. It's not as if the Conservatives are the only ones without sin either--I don't recall them taking us into an unwinnable *illegal* war over oil with claim of full scale attacks on major European cities with WMDs in under 45 minutes of the decision being made!

  3. irish donkey
    Go

    Wish I had of got one now.....

    In years to come they will be regarded as a collectors item!

    1. irish donkey
      Happy

      They should all write to Sad-Jacqui

      She had 1000's of people writing to her asking when the ID Cards were coming in.

      Maybe they should write to her now if they really want a refund.

      She's looking for a job any offers out there for an over the hill, unemployable ex home secretary that has just lost her job and needs massive expenses to support her husbands porn habit.

  4. Dodgy Geezer Silver badge
    FAIL

    Cashback from the government...??

    "..The government is set to refuse refunds to people who have forked out good money for ID cards..."

    Like the Lottery, the ID Cards turned out to be a tax on stupidity and gullibility. Presumably these were the people who were calling for more government interference in our lives? I can't think of a better group of people to tax a bit!

    Although, of course, these items may command a high price on ebay as rarities? Perhaps the early purchasers were cleverer than we thought.......

    1. John G Imrie

      Like the Lottery, the ID Cards turned out to be a tax on stupidity

      I resent that implication. With the lottery there is a *chance* of coming out on top.

      1. Stone Fox
        Coat

        don't you mean

        you resemble that implication?

  5. The Fuzzy Wotnot
    Alert

    Ha ha!

    Ha hah ah ah ah ah ha ha ha ha ha! Mugs! Ha! Lol!

    Hold on that was my money they wasted getting this pile of puppy-poop up and running!!!

    *grumble* *grumble* Less for local services *grumble* Kids with no books *grumble* Freezing old folks *grumble*

  6. Eponymous Cowherd
    Thumb Up

    Serves 'em right....

    Still, the "nothing to hide" brigade can take comfort in the fact that they will be useful for scraping ice from their car windscreens, next winter.

    Having said that, those that were *forced* to have ID cards (foreign nationals) *should* be offered a refund as they had no choice in the matter.

    1. Peter Gathercole Silver badge

      I think that...

      ID cards for non-EU nationals are still on the cards (pun intended!)

      1. rpjs

        And to be fair

        All the ID cards for non-EU nationals are is their old residence permits that are now a plastic card rather than a sticker in their passport.

  7. lIsRT
    Big Brother

    Can't we charge them even more now?

    The people with ID cards should consider themselves lucky the database isn't being kept - with massively increased fines if they fail to keep their details current.

    That's what I'd do anyway, let them have their Big Brother if seem to want it, and leave us in peace.

    1. John G Imrie

      keep their details current.

      Now there's a thought. Unless the bill to repeal the ID card is worded correctly, those with ID cards may not get out of this obligation.

  8. Lee Dowling Silver badge
    Thumb Up

    Ha ha

    Oh, how brilliant! First, why should they get a refund? They *WANTED* an ID card and were never given any guarantee that pubs, shops, banks, passport control etc. would be *required* to accept it forever. They paid out for it voluntarily. Nobody "made" them get an ID card, even if it seemed like that was imminent. They were fools at the time and were derided on this very website, in these comments pages.

    To "refund" them would only cost every taxpayer more money for a scheme which attracted almost universal criticism and which only about 5000 people out of the population wanted... I can probably find groups on Facebook petitioning the government to sell the UK to China with more supporters than that. Nobody made them pay, they *wanted* to be alpha-testers for this stupid idea, in fact they had to pre-register in order to even be considered, so that's that. They paid their price, got their product - an ID card that was valid ID - and that's the end of it.

    In other news, beta-testers for a new MMORPG that paid £60 to get on the testing list, before it was officially released, find out that the company has decided not to release the product in the end anyway. Same thing. You were wasting your money even *if* they were eventually made compulsory, and the warning signs that the whole thing would be scrapped were there in the media all the time... "the whole country", "every airport worker", "some immigrants", "oh, sod it, just a couple of volunteers from Manchester then..."

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Megaphone

    haha

    Now that we've weeded out the nations most dangerous assholes (i.e. the ones dumb enough to buy into ID cards, but smart enough to fill out the application form without chewing the corners) we should take serious proactive action to minimize their influence in society.

    At the very least they should be made to sign some sort of common sense offender's register. Preferably however they should be made to wear some kind of electronic Dunce hat with warning lights and sirens built in so that the public know who they're dealing with. The hat could be linked to a traditional ankle bracelet via bluetooth, take the hat off and some coppers come round to give you a bloody good beating and exchange your old hat for a larger, more obnoxious one.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Happy

      Common Sense Offender's Register

      "...At the very least they should be made to sign some sort of common sense offender's register..."

      I Lol'd. Nice turn of phrase.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      With the exception of 'El Reg'

      "...common sense offender's register"

      Such a register would surely be bigger than all the registers in all the world combined?

    3. John H Woods Silver badge
      Happy

      done...

      ... a rolled up copy of the daily mail under one arm

  10. Matt Newton
    Thumb Up

    Serves them right

    The people that signed up to this and lost money deserved to lose it; they don't care about losing their freedoms, why care about £50 or whatever it was.

    El Oh El.

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Up

    If you've got nothing to hide..

    ...you've got no refund coming.

  12. Sir Runcible Spoon
    Happy

    Sir

    Boo Hoo, consider it a stupid tax.

    </smug>

    However I did buy a HIPS two days before they announced it was to be abolished.

    </notsosmug>

    1. Oz
      Go

      Re: HIPS

      Ditto - I don't expect to see a refund, but it will make your property a little more saleable, as it saves the buyers coughing up for searches....

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        re: as it saves the buyers coughing up for searches....

        Isn't that one of the big issues with HIPS - the buyers didn't trust searches provided by the vendor so got their own anyway

  13. Paul Hates Handles

    Idiot tax...

    ...for failure to see a monumentally bad idea and implementation when it rears its ugly head :)

  14. Ken 16 Silver badge
    Jobs Horns

    That's what voluntary means

    If you want to pay for something useless, don't expect a refund.

    Ask Steve Jobs.

  15. Danny 14
    Go

    well

    a fool and his money is soon parted.

  16. BossHog
    FAIL

    Boohoo

    Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.

    1. seanj
      Pint

      Re: Boohoo

      ... nor refunds...

      1. BossHog

        +1

        Amen!

    2. brimful
      Flame

      That's assuming

      That's assuming of course that this oil based product offers any form of safety whatsoever. Even the Jesus phone offers more safety than said peice of plastic.

      Flame: cos plastics burn well the thermoplastic kind anyway.

  17. JimmyPage Silver badge
    Thumb Down

    Petty and mean ?

    Whilst I have no sympathy for the ID Card fanbois, who deserve to lose their money for supporting such a crackpot scheme, I would hope that those people who were forced to get a card as part of their job are refunded. And if they can't distinguish between the two, then all should have a refund.

    Surely we can be magnanimous in victory ?

  18. playtime
    Thumb Up

    Remove titles and shoot idiot who put them in in the first place

    Idiot tax.

  19. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    They should

    Refund the immigrants that were forced to get an ID card to work in the UK, I have no sympathy for those who voluntarily signed up though.

  20. Anonymous Coward
    Happy

    Ha!

    That'll teach 'em for trusting a Labour government. Fools.

  21. Anonymous Coward
    Flame

    that will teach you for backing such a scheme

    HA HA HA HA this is the funniest news about id cards so far and just what these people deserve for backing such a stupid system and allowing the former government to go "well X people have signed up so they can't be unpopular/bad".

  22. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    They want a what now?

    I'm much, MUCH more supprised by the suggestion that people might be expecting a re-fund for their ID Card than the fact that they won't be getting one.

    Good, you could call it a sheeple tax.

  23. OSC

    From the original article

    "The cards – which can currently be used to travel in Europe without a passport – will be invalidated and individuals who paid £30 for them will be forced to purchase a passport instead"

    Did anyone successfully use one of those cards for anything?

    However, an alternative spin would be "govt will repeal law threatening £1000 fine for those (stupid enough) to voluntarily obtain ID cards; failing to notify change of address"

  24. SirTainleyBarking
    Black Helicopters

    Just Proves the adage

    about fools and their money doesn't it

  25. ironical tomsk
    Happy

    Must... resist...

    urge... to.. gloat.

    No, given in. Heh heh heh. Serves you right for jumping on the band wagon!

  26. nichomach
    Big Brother

    Apparently...

    ...those with nothing to hide DID have something to fear after all...

    BB, well, for old times' sake...

  27. michael W
    Thumb Up

    voluntary or not?

    It was only mandatory for new citizens that were here either because of being a student or getting married, everyone else bought them voluntarily.

    So I just think of it this way, those that were forced were simply paying £30 for the privilege of living here and those that weren't forced were stupid enough to agree to such a ridiculous scheme in the first place.

    No harm done really, especially as it'd supposedly cost 500mill to completely refund it all.

  28. Richard 120

    Collectors Items?

    Probably end up being worth more than they paid for them anyway.

  29. Winkypop Silver badge
    Happy

    How sweet it is

    Make the politicians who brought that crap in, pay refunds* to the suckers, errr, I mean early-adopters!

    * from their own pocket too.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      And let me be

      one of the enforcers.

      I mean it.

      I'll wear my bollock-kicking shoes.

  30. Anonymous Coward
    WTF?

    To be honest

    we dont seem to have any money to give back, thanks to the people who created the daft scheme.

  31. Edward 2
    Thumb Up

    Spot on

    Serves the silly sods right. Both opposition parties made it pretty damn clear that the scheme would be killed if they got any say in it.

  32. Dale 3
    FAIL

    Collector's item

    I don't know about anyone else, but if I had an ID card I probably wouldn't be in a great hurry to put it - all full of my personal information - up for sale on Ebay as a collector's item. You do know who would be the collectors, don't you?

    1. Richard 120
      Coat

      Good Point

      Well made.

  33. Wish You Were Here
    Happy

    <nelson mode>

    Ha ha

    </nelson mode>

  34. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    @Ask Labour for a refund

    Erm. OK. And have you also been asking Tory HQ for a cheque for the millions pissed away by their wilful and deliberately awful method of rail privatisation? Or the poll tax fiasco? I expect Lord Ashcroft might suddenly be less enthusiastic about coughing up.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Grenade

      Quit moaning -- the trophy now belongs to you!

      No amount of whinging about "Tory years of misrule" will change the fact that the Brown government was the worst we've ever had. Yes, poll tax was bad; yes, privatisation was botched; and yes, the Tories at their worst were strident and heartless. But not once, ever, has a Tory government managed to combine incompetence, envy, puritanism, profligacy and stifling political correctness on the scale managed by Brown's lot!

      The Trophy for Worst Ever Government now belongs to *you* - so laugh it up, fuzzball!

      1. dpg21
        Thumb Down

        I think you're forgetting someone...

        Yes, Brown's been pretty bad. But there's no way he takes the crown from Blair. For sheer evil, misery and waste, Iraq and Afghanistan trump absolutely everything Browns done.

        1. Jim Morrow

          credit where credit is due

          Remember it was Bliar who decided everyone should be bar-coded for eternity. And he lied about that too.

        2. Anonymous Coward
          FAIL

          For sheer evil

          You have to flag up Brown whilst he was Chancellor as well as Brown whilst he was PM. Blair might have sent the boys to Iraq and Afghanistan, but Brown was the one who didn't pay for their equipment, whilst instead running up the biggest deficit ever (and the biggest debt in real terms since the second world war) during a period of boom; leaving nothing in the bank for when things went horribly wrong.

          Iraq was a big mistake, but in terms of effect on the people of the United Kingdom, Brown has done more damage than any Prime Minister I can think of since Sir Robert Walpole.

      2. Burch
        Grenade

        No surprise you're anonymous

        I'd be thoroughly ashamed as well.

      3. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Get it right Fuzzball.

        You didn't see anything praising Brown/Blair in my post did you? Blair turned out to be a crazed loon and Brown has screwed us all with overuse of of PFI (which the Tories invented and were going to rely on if they hadn't been kicked out). Don't know why Labour did all the control freakery shit. Let's see an end to it.

        Shame that the thoroughly evil bastards have got their hands back on the tiller though. Because they're, like, thoroughly evil and all.

        (Ashamed of my post pointing out Tories pissed millions away on politically motivated nonsense? Nope. Got my own reasons for posting anonymously.)

  35. Is it me?

    And we get the last laugh, ching.

    A lot of the ID card work was about biometric passports, mostly the relatively small amount of money required in the IT systems to cop with ID cards will probably be retained by the IT companies in penalties. The big bikkies left would be the roll out of enrolment services which may well still be needed, which would have been a lifeline to your local post office.

    Any aspiring back bencher want to ask the question "How much did we actually save by canning ID cards" in about 12 months time, bet it won't be much once termination fees have been taken into account. I'll bet it's all covered up by Commercial in Confidence to save embarrassment.

    Oh, and I hope that some of our negative commentators out there are in line to loose their jobs when the government cuts back on IT, because a lot of dead wood will be cut from SI IT staffing to accommodate the really good people who worked on ID cards and others, bet you hadn't thought that one through.

    1. Fred Dibnah
      WTF?

      Local Post Offices

      Are you really saying that we should have kept ID cards in order to keep Post Offices from closing? That sounds like one quango justifying itself by supplying services to another quango. Scrap 'em all, I say.

    2. MonkeyBot

      Won't somebody think of the IT staff?

      "...the really good people who worked on ID cards and others, bet you hadn't thought that one through."

      The really good people will be transferred to other projects or have to find jobs in the private sector doing something useful. The fact that people are making money out of a boondoggle is no reason to keep it.

      Rather than asking how much we've saved 12 months from now, ask how much we've saved 10 years down the line. Ask how much it would have cost to install card readers in every hospital, police station, job centre and every other government building where the public might interact with the state. The cost of that was never included in the Home Office cost projections.

    3. Captain Mainwaring
      Megaphone

      And the real winner will be......

      I think it will be the great British public that has the last laugh here, as it happens.

      It has been said that at least 29 million ID cards will have to be sold for the project to break even in financial terms. That's at least 29 million people who will now not have to stump up the cash to buy into Nu Labour's Stasi population control project. That's at least 29 million people who will not have to pay up to a £1000 pound fine should they forget to update their details with the all-surveying National Identity Register. That's at least 29 million people who will now not have to carry an ID card around with them in their wallets to show to every jobsworth and petty official on every street corner. That's at least 29 million people........ oh well, I think I could go on all day about the numerous disadvantages and problems that this socialist dystopia project would bring with it.

      Whether cancelling this project saves the treasury 2 Billion pounds or 2 pence, it will be the man in the street who will be quids in once it has been passed out of law.

    4. Nanki Poo
      Grenade

      What a strange link-up

      So, by the same token we should have SS-style police in order to keep more people in employment?

      I am a supporter of local post offices, but that doesn't mean I believe a liberty-infringing expensive and ultimately useless system should be implemented to save them. Dolt.

      Also I seem to recall that Cameron declared a while back that any new contracts between then and him becoming PM would not be honoured, because he was making it clear that he would cancel them. I hope he sticks to it, if a company was stupid enough to take on a project which they knew full well would be cancelled, then no right mind would believe they should receive any compensation.

      nK

  36. Anonymous Coward
    Joke

    SoGA

    I suppose the SoGA/DSR wouldn't help them no? Goods not fit for purpose blah blah blah

    1. Adrian Jackson

      Re: SoGA

      Certainly should help them. The product's not fit for the purpose promised, so the vendor's obliged to either repair/replace it so that it is at no cost to the customer, or to make a full refund.

  37. Red Bren
    Big Brother

    What better warning?

    I hope the early adopters fail to get any kind of refund. Not because of a told-you-so vindictiveness, but purely because it will make it much harder for any authoritarian busybodies to have another try in the future.

    1. Lionel Baden

      ok you do that

      I'll do it out of vindictiveness then ...

    2. BongoJoe
      Big Brother

      No refund

      No refunds ought to be given. That fee ought to be seen as fine for supporting a traitorous act by supporting principles of being British.

      If I want an ID card then I will move abroad to where I have to have one.

  38. Stuart 22
    Grenade

    Idiot Tax

    I disagree with abolition. Existing holders should be held to their freely entered obligation to keep their details up to date or pay a massive fine and pay for renewals at cost (which will be massive for so few idi^H^H^H takers).

    Where is justice when you need it?

    1. JimmyPage Silver badge
      Thumb Up

      I almost agree

      I did wonder, when abolition was mooted, that the best way to punish the early adopters would be to insist that they (and they alone) fulfil the obligations required, forever, of having to notify their Change of Details ....

      But like I said, in victory, magnaminity (sp?)

  39. ShaggyDoggy

    Oh no

    _NOW_ I want one !!!

  40. yossarianuk
    Happy

    Serves the fools right

    Anyone dumb enough to sign over there identity to the government without them using force deserves to lose their money, after all they have already lost their dignity.

    The new government has the best 'sucker list' ever created, I would be spamming them now.

  41. rob703
    Big Brother

    No sale

    I would suggest that selling an ID card is illegal, in the same way that selling your passport would be, even if it expires.

    Do we actually own our passports? I thought that they remained the property of the state.

  42. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Down

    Yeah, very funny

    So those early adopters will be well out of pocket?

    Well, I've got news for you - so are the rest of us!

    You don't think all the stuff they've done so far was free do you?

  43. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    (untitled)

    After all they did to try to make this a success by buying into it, then they ought to be charged double for card disposal. And no point trying to fly tip them, your id is on our records.

  44. Anonymous Coward
    Pirate

    This govt keeps getting better and better

    I'm hoping the next thing they do is slash the Olympic budget in half, starting with dumping the special accomodation for the IOC and moving them out to a youth hostel in Hackney.

    /doesn't really care about IT budgets as left IT long ago.

    1. Maverick
      Thumb Down

      don't stop with the IOC

      dump the lot

      every last stadium

      every last track

      every last training facility

      every last 'hospitality' facility

      nothing in all that Government spending that will benefit any child / athlete north of Milton Keynes

      . . . and let's face it, would be worth doing to hear that whining fool Coe's reaction <evil grin>

      1. Anonymous Coward
        WTF?

        South of Milton Keynes

        Given that somewhere in the region of 25 million Britains live south of Milton Keynes, I would have thought that having lots of facilities in those areas made a lot of sense. Especially since Manchester, Birmingham, and other more northern cities have got a lot of spending from other games (like Commonwealth games etc.) and from national bodies. The North has more excellent stadia than the South already thanks to the more Northern football teams as well.

        1. MonkeyBot

          Re: Milton Keynes

          If 25m people live south of MK, that leaves 35m who don't.

          60m of us are paying for something that will benefit less than half of the population.

  45. Richard 39

    May I just say...

    Hahahahahahahahahahahaha

    *inhale*

    Hahahahahahahahahahahaha

    a warm sense of satisfaction sweeps over me as I recall all those numpties who lobbied that ID cards were the best thing since sliced bread.

    Just desserts that the retards don't get a refund

    :-)

  46. Simon Barnes

    Collector's item ?

    just stash it away for a decade and then flog on eBay :)

  47. TrinityX
    Happy

    No Refunds = Stupidity Tax

    @Richard39: damn right.

    In fact, I know personally one of the utter prats who bought one of these. It pleases me no end to think the silly div wasted his money. Oh yes....

  48. Alan Firminger

    Rory Bremner was right

    They needed to know where we live.

  49. John Smith 19 Gold badge
    Joke

    Oh the tragedy

    In the back streets of Manchester, where *dozens* of bold "entrepreneurs" had staked their financial future on reverse engineering/copying the card, now facing *ruin*.

    Won't *someone* think of the forgers?

    BTW IIRC most of the actual *data* is held on the virtual database that *was* the NIR (let's make sure *that* is dismantled along with the more loonier parts of the IPS) stitched together from the data from 3 existing databases.

  50. David 45

    Wasted money

    No sympathy from me, I'm afraid. If you've been mug enough to fork out good money for something that wasn't compulsory at the time - tough! They were always a dead duck. Glad to see the back of the idea.

  51. Richard 33
    Flame

    Ha ha ha ha

    Let me give them this tiny violin. With a little camera inside it to track them.

  52. Alex Osmond
    Big Brother

    Stupid? No, just conned.....

    Have a bit of sympathy guys. Most people who bought ID cards on the basis of the information put before them by the media - that they were a more convenient, cheaper form of passport. Have a look at the publicity, and most newspaper articles outside of the likes of the Guardian, and that's all you'd see. Same for most of the IPS staff who were duped into buying one - nobody telling them about £1000 fines and lifeflong data retention. You can only make a judgement on the basis of the info presented to you (OK, you should have the gumption to look a bit deeper, but do we honestly all do that? All of the time?)

    So spare some thoughts for the poor dupes.

    No, the villains I want to see punished lie elsewhere. It would be a joy to see the smile wiped off the fat, smug, overfed face of James Hall (IPS Chief Exec) and his "leadership" team, by having to make a public apology for the misleading propaganda they've been pumping out.

  53. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Idiot tax?

    My ex almost got one for my daughter this Summer, as a "cheap passport". It would have worked out cheaper than a full passport, so she was advised to get one.

    The "idiots" shouldn't really be ripped off like this, but I agree the ID evangelists who signed up just to support the scheme, deserve to lose every last penny.

  54. 46Bit

    Tch

    These traitors to the cause of opposing ridiculous pointless & ineffectual government schemes should have to pay extra for having got them.

  55. Anonymous Coward
    Coat

    Did she, or didn't she?

    I found an old Bagpuss in the attic yesterday, and it made me wonder if Jakkie/Jaquie/Jacky/fuck it had brought one?

    Identity card I mean, not Bagpuss!

    Mine's the dusty one with the orange and white tell-tale signs.

  56. Ascylto
    Big Brother

    Tee, hee

    I am so glad I took the advice of a Reg'er and applied for a 5-pack of ID card applications, then mailed them to the likes of my local Labour MP, Meg Hillier and the like.

    I know I probably end up paying the bill for the 'free' postage ... but it was truly worth it.

  57. Stephen Bouvier
    Joke

    Serves them bloody right

    Frankly, this is simply a case of the dangers of early adoption of new technology.

    Am I entitled to a refund from you, Dear Register Reader, because I bought Betamax or an Apple Newton? No, you say, underwrite your own stupidity. Quite right too.

    These people were warned, certainly by El Reg, that the opposition parties were committed to scrapping the id card project. So let that be a lesson to them about where they get their news from in the future should they seek to argue blissful ignorance of what the Con-Dems were planning to do.

    But worst of all, these people were happy to take a cheap passport, subsidised by the rest of us, and permit themselves to be used as propaganda in the war against our civil liberties and privacy.

    These dimwits thought it was all about a card and appear to have been incapable of conceptualising the NIR behind the card.

    So to anyone who lost 30 quid: tough! It might not have taught you to value my liberties, but hopefully it's taught you about the dangers of early adoption.

    Anyone want to buy a Newton? It's hardly been used ...

  58. Steve Oliver 2

    So how many people from the last government had one?

    Title says it all really - any one know?

    Of course they might have stayed away from them, what with all the different addresses they might have been using. Could have got a tad expensive in the £1000 fine dept...

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