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Around the country in 80 buses!
A pensioners’
campaigner has made a “bus stop” in Liverpool as part of a
charity tour of the entire country on local bus services.
Richard Worrall, is currently travelling the length and breadth of
England by local bus to promote a new nationwide free bus pass
scheme for the over 60s, which launches in April 2008.
Richard, 63, arrived at Sir Thomas Street in Liverpool as part of
his 11 day tour of England, which takes him in a circle from his
home town of Walsall via Liverpool, the Lakes, the Scottish Borders,
Scarborough, Lowestoft, Dover, Southampton, Lands End, Bristol, and
the Welsh Borders. Merseytravel Bus Committee Chair Councillor
Denis Knowles (right, pictured with Richard in hat) met up with
Richard at the bus stands in Sir Thomas Street on the 1st leg of his
1,000-mile charity trip.
Richard said:- “The idea is to promote the all-England pass as
a way of getting out and seeing bits of our wonderful country which
people might not have visited before. Or maybe there are friends and
family further away who they want to visit.
This free scheme
is brilliant, and is a great opportunity for older people.”
Councillor Knowles added:- “Richard is the first person I’ve
heard of to tour the country like this. It was good to meet him and
to wish him well. The proposals for the free national bus pass are
great and should benefit huge numbers of people.
As many people will
know, Merseytravel has offered this service to our over 60’s and
disabled people for many years but even so it gives them scope to go
out and see more of the country if they want to.
If it brings them
closer to friends and family that’s a good thing.”
Through sponsorship, Mr Worrall hopes to raise money for a number of
charities, including the Anthony Nolan Trust; African-Caribbean
Leukaemia Trust (ACLT) and Gwalior (India) Children’s Hospital
Trust.
Merseyside is unique in the country as it already offers free bus
travel, as well as train and ferry travel, to over 60s and people
with certain disabilities.
Everyone in Merseyside who already
has an Access All Areas travel pass will receive his or her new
national pass before 1 April 2008, so people whose details have not
changed need do nothing.
Those with an old style travel pass
will have received a letter asking them to confirm their details and
provide a new photograph. Merseytravel will send their travel
pass out before 1 April 2008, if they return their details as soon as
possible. |
184
million ‘free’ days of work – but excessive hours fail to
deliver results
DATA released
by the Chartered Management Institute suggests that managers in the
North West are putting in too many hours, for too few returns. The
figures, which come from a report looking at the ‘Quality of
Working Life’, have been issued in support of the TUC’s ‘Work
Your Proper Hours’ campaign.
The report indicates that efforts to reduce working hours in recent
years have failed to have a positive impact in North West. Some of
the key findings of the study include:-
• 89% of managers in the North West regularly work over their
contracted hours – a figure that has barely fallen since 2000 (91%)
• the average manager works 1 hour 18 minutes over contract each day
– equivalent to roughly 40 days per year, or 184 million days each
year for the UK’s management population
• only 1 in 3 work excess hours by choice. Many in the region (46%)
do so to meet deadlines or because of the volume of work they face
• 47% in North West believe that the UK’s long hours culture affects
their productivity and 39% argue that working excessively hits
morale
• on a personal level, 65% in the region also say that working over
contracted hours limits exercise time and nearly half (48% ) claim
extra hours prevent them from developing skills
Analysis of the data, published in association with Simplyhealth,
shows that the average manager only takes 3.5 days absence each
year. It means that for every day lost to illness, the average
manager provides almost 11.5 days ‘free of charge’ to their
employer.
Jo Causon, director, marketing and corporate affairs at the
Chartered Management Institute, says:- “Many organisations
focus on the cost of absence to their organisations, yet are not
addressing the root causes of absenteeism. Surely, in today’s
results-driven environment, output is more important than input, so
two questions need to be answered; why are employers ignoring the
impact of long hours on the health and performance of their
employees and what responsibility are employees taking for how they
manage themselves?”
The ‘Quality of Working Life’ report also indicates that
Britain’s long-hours culture is not down to over bearing bosses.
Asked why they worked over contract, only 2% claimed to be ‘pressurised
to do it’ and just 3% suggested it was ‘to get ahead’.
Looking at those in full-time employment, the report also shows that
women are more able to control their workload. Only 16% of women,
compared to 35% of men, work over 48 hours per week and just 3% of
female respondents admitted to working in excess of 60 hours each
week, compared to 7% of men.
Causon adds:- “The perpetual cycle of taking out costs in
recent years has meant that most organisations are driven to use
their assets, particularly their people,more intensively.
Yet it
is clearly having a negative effect and will create longer term
problems for organisations unless the UK’s long hours culture is
kept in check.” |
