Train GraphicClick on the map to explore geographics
 
I need help
FAQ
Emergency
About .
Travel & transport from BBC stories as at 14:35 28 Mar 2024
- Man held over stabbing in front of train passengers
- How do I renew my UK passport and what is the 10-year rule?
- Jet2 launches first flight from Liverpool airport
* Easter travel warning as millions set to hit roads
Read about the forum [here].
Register [here] - it's free.
What do I gain from registering? [here]
 02/06/24 - Summer Timetable starts
17/08/24 - Bus to Imber
27/09/25 - 200 years of passenger trains

On this day
28th Mar (1988)
Formal end to carrying coffins by BR (link)

Train RunningCancelled
13:00 Bristol Temple Meads to London Paddington
13:26 Weston-Super-Mare to London Paddington
13:28 Weymouth to Gloucester
13:30 London Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads
14:13 Par to Newquay
14:19 Westbury to Swindon
15:10 Newquay to Par
15:14 Swindon to Westbury
15:16 London Paddington to Cardiff Central
17:54 Cardiff Central to London Paddington
Short Run
11:23 Portsmouth Harbour to Cardiff Central
11:29 Weymouth to Gloucester
11:30 Cardiff Central to Portsmouth Harbour
11:48 London Paddington to Carmarthen
12:03 London Paddington to Penzance
12:30 London Paddington to Weston-Super-Mare
13:03 London Paddington to Plymouth
13:07 Salisbury to Bristol Temple Meads
13:10 Gloucester to Weymouth
14:05 Salisbury to Bristol Temple Meads
15:10 Gloucester to Weymouth
15:23 Portsmouth Harbour to Cardiff Central
15:30 Cardiff Central to Portsmouth Harbour
16:19 Carmarthen to London Paddington
Delayed
10:04 London Paddington to Penzance
10:23 Portsmouth Harbour to Cardiff Central
12:30 Cardiff Central to Portsmouth Harbour
14:30 Cardiff Central to Portsmouth Harbour
PollsOpen and recent polls
Closed 2024-03-25 Easter Escape - to where?
Abbreviation pageAcronymns and abbreviations
Stn ComparatorStation Comparator
Rail newsNews Now - live rail news feed
Site Style 1 2 3 4
Next departures • Bristol Temple MeadsBath SpaChippenhamSwindonDidcot ParkwayReadingLondon PaddingtonMelksham
Exeter St DavidsTauntonWestburyTrowbridgeBristol ParkwayCardiff CentralOxfordCheltenham SpaBirmingham New Street
March 28, 2024, 14:37:44 *
Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
Forgotten your username or password? - get a reminder
Most recently liked subjects
[142] West Wiltshire Bus Changes April 2024
[80] would you like your own LIVE train station departure board?
[56] Return of the BRUTE?
[46] If not HS2 to Manchester, how will traffic be carried?
[43] Infrastructure problems in Thames Valley causing disruption el...
[34] Reversing Beeching - bring heritage and freight lines into the...
 
News: the Great Western Coffee Shop ... keeping you up to date with travel around the South West
 
   Home   Help Search Calendar Login Register  
Pages: [1]
  Print  
Author Topic: "MP Michael Wills pays back expenses" - Swindon Advertiser (29/12/2009)  (Read 2476 times)
Lee
Transport Scholar
Hero Member
******
Posts: 7519


GBR - The Emperor's New Rail Network


View Profile WWW
« on: December 29, 2009, 16:21:21 »

From the Swindon Advertiser:

Quote from: Swindon Advertiser
MP (Member of Parliament) Michael Wills pays back expenses

Swindon MP Michael Wills has agreed to pay back just over ^1,000 to the Parliamentary fees office after a dispute over train fare expenses.

Mr Wills is unhappy with the decision by Sir Thomas Legg and has vowed to claw back the money.

But rather than contesting the ruling by Mr Legg, who looked into the expenses of 753 MPs and former MPs over a five-year period, Mr Wills will pay up.

Mr Wills made the announcement last Wednesday, which was the deadline for filing appeals.

The Swindon North MP said: ^In the interest of helping bring the earliest possible resolution to the crisis over Parliamentary expenses, I am paying ^1,015 to the Fees Office, even though I disagree with Sir Thomas Legg^s recommendation that I do so.^

Mr Wills, who has decided to step down at the next General Election, said that he was repaying the money ^even though there is no suggestion of impropriety on my part by Sir Thomas Legg and even though I am owed an equivalent sum by the Fees Office^.

He added: ^The dispute over train fares is not about whether they were legitimate ^ everyone accepts they were and were submitted with valid receipts ^ the only dispute was over the fact that they were submitted 16 days after a deadline imposed by the Fees Office ^The net result of this repayment is that I have paid out of my own pocket ^1,015 for train travel to and from Swindon.^

Mr Wills, a Minister of State in the Ministry of Justice, was among around 200 MPs who have been asked to return money from claims, though around a third of the MPs have lodged appeals against the ruling.

Sir Paul Kennedy, a former high court judge, has been asked to hear cases in which MPs dispute the Legg findings.

Mr Wills explained that the expenses were for train fares to and from Swindon and London between September 2007 and April 2008.

Under Parliamentary rules, Mr Wills was entitled to claim train travel to and from the capital ^ which remains the case.

^The train fares were incurred because I need to get to and from my constituency and, whenever possible, I don^t drive on principle, for environmental reasons,^ pointed out Mr Wills.

^I have always preferred to use public transport whenever possible and have done so since 1997 ^ although if I did drive I would be entitled to have those costs reimbursed as well.^

Mr Wills said that in his case, the ruling from Sir Thomas Legg arose ^from a series of accounting mistakes resulting in double payments of claims by the Fees Office^.

The Labour MP added that as soon as these mistakes were identified in 2008, he repaid the sums involved.

Mr Wills explained: ^I deducted from the repayment the amount I was owed by the Fees Office for receipted train fares to and from my constituency.

^The Fees Office has still not paid this because they say the claims were submitted 16 days after a deadline they had imposed, despite the fact they are entitled to waive the deadline.^

Mr Wills said that he was very unhappy with the ruling, claiming that the Fees Office had not replied to my letters and calls to settle this account.

He added: ^Sir Thomas Legg does not disagree that I am owed the money for the train fares, which were all submitted with receipts, but he says he does not believe that this could offset the balance owed on the overpayments by the Fees Office.

^Sir Thomas Legg has not responded to my request for his reasons for adopting such an approach.

^However, although I disagree with it, I do not intend to appeal Sir Thomas Legg^s finding because I believe that such appeals may further delay the resolution of the crisis over expenses that has so damaged Parliament.

^The sooner such resolution occurs, the better.

^I am therefore repaying the remaining moneys erroneously paid to me by the Fees Office and I will now seek, by other means, the payment of the same amount due to me for train fares for which I am entitled to reimbursement.^
Logged

Vous devez ĂȘtre impitoyable, parce que ces gens sont des salauds - https://looka.com/s/78722877
Do you have something you would like to add to this thread, or would you like to raise a new question at the Coffee Shop? Please [register] (it is free) if you have not done so before, or login (at the top of this page) if you already have an account - we would love to read what you have to say!

You can find out more about how this forum works [here] - that will link you to a copy of the forum agreement that you can read before you join, and tell you very much more about how we operate. We are an independent forum, provided and run by customers of Great Western Railway, for customers of Great Western Railway and we welcome railway professionals as members too, in either a personal or official capacity. Views expressed in posts are not necessarily the views of the operators of the forum.

As well as posting messages onto existing threads, and starting new subjects, members can communicate with each other through personal messages if they wish. And once members have made a certain number of posts, they will automatically be admitted to the "frequent posters club", where subjects not-for-public-domain are discussed; anything from the occasional rant to meetups we may be having ...

 
Pages: [1]
  Print  
 
Jump to:  

Powered by MySQL Powered by PHP Powered by SMF 1.1.2 | SMF © 2006-2007, Simple Machines LLC Valid XHTML 1.0! Valid CSS!
This forum is provided by customers of Great Western Railway (formerly First Great Western), and the views expressed are those of the individual posters concerned. Visit www.gwr.com for the official Great Western Railway website. Please contact the administrators of this site if you feel that the content provided by one of our posters contravenes our posting rules (email link to report). Forum hosted by Well House Consultants

Jump to top of pageJump to Forum Home Page