BT workers cuffed over fake overtime and moonlighting claims

Re: Ah, clever...

Not that clever if you end up nicked and out of a job.

There is a permit to allow utilities to park in London, with restrictions. Do not cause an obstruction, single yellow lines only etc.

Most Councils in London ignore the permits, and slap a ticket on anyway.

BT along with lots of similar companies ask continuously, the answer is invariably "no" - not just in London but across the country. And those millions of pounds a year in fines get added to your utility bills.

Most permit schemes require that the company submits a vehicle reg and location in advance, which is tricky in a reactive area of work like responding to a fault. It's cheaper for most companies to pay the fine than have someone park half a mile away - or further - and then try and lug all their kit to the worksite without breaking their backs or having it nicked, all the while halving their productivity. If someone is using a transit sized van instead of a fiesta sized fan, it's because they've got a lot of kit to carry around with them.

The only workable exception seems to be around roadworks - which means that if you park your van up and surround it with cones, maybe lift a manhole cover off for appearances, you can legitimately claim to be performing roadworks and thus become exempt from parking restrictions and fines.

When I worked for BT in the early 90's there were guys with 'foot patches' - city centre techs who had slimmed their tool kit down to something that could be carried in a holdall - normally PBX or data service maintenance people rather than someone who regularly needed to climb poles. Today's approach seems to be to train everyone to do everything, hence the need for a lot more stuff to carry around.

I think you'll find that private clamping has already become illegal.