Conference terri::cars_uk

    Re:-1
    	A lot of people have given up their company car, purely because
    	of the ever increasing tax on a so called perk??.
    	Surely if the goverment made the tax allowance more attractive
    	towards company cars, it must stimulate growth in the car industry.
    	Lets face it, in the not so distant future, all cars will be leased,
    	company and private??, with the exception of classics?.
    
    	Mind you I am glad to see that the list price of a car will now
    	count towards the tax allowance, instead of engine size. Roll on
    	april 94?.
    
    	Colin.

    		
    	Keith,
    
    
    	Much as I agree with you ( that our cars are "tools of
    the trade" ) they are PERCEIVED as perks by the joe public and thats
    	what counts. You drive a Astra GSi, I drive an RS Turbo...you try
    	to prove that these cars arent perks to the average Allegro 
    	driver !!!!!!!
                 

re.1:

As to the government stimulating industry, they haven't bothered over the last
14 years, so why start now?

Dave.

	The UK has the highest percentage of company cars, that means that an
	awful lot of them *are* perks.  A lot of this started in the 70s as
	a way around pay freezes (both Labour and Tory), this is also why  
	Digital pays 1 week in arrears and 3 weeks in advance.

	Leaving aside the cars that *are* tools of the trade, all the other 	
	company cars are perverting the market.  Think of it, they are (on average)
	driven too hard (more fuel usage), the milage limits are related to
	personal taxation (more fuel usage - fancy driving to Paris to up the
	milage?).  Lastly my personal bug bear (aside from the use of Disabled
	car space used by a perfectly able bodied person - especially when there
	are other spaces in the car park) which is that garages rip off lease
	companies (and thus lease drivers).  All of this is very un-green and 
	bad for the environment.  On the other hand, taxing car owners to death
	is *not* the answer (no matter how "green" Lament wanted to appear, he 
	was merely getting money from the [gullible] tax payers).  A decent
	set of integrated transport services such as is available in many other
	European countries and a plan from getting from the situation we're in
	now to this future (nirvana?) would be helpful.

	Dave

>    	A lot of people have given up their company car, purely because
>    	of the ever increasing tax on a so called perk??.
>    	Surely if the goverment made the tax allowance more attractive
>    	towards company cars, it must stimulate growth in the car industry.
 

	Now there is a strange thought - Just because you don't buy a car 
	through the company lease scheme, then you don't buy one at all.

	
	Heather - who has always thought the Co. car scheme is to expensive, but
	still treats herself to a new car (well ex-demo) every three years.

re .3;
	>personal taxation (more fuel usage - fancy driving to Paris to up the
	>milage?).  Lastly my personal bug bear (aside from the use of Disabled

As it happens, I am driving to Geneva next week for a meeting - it is
saving Digital about �450, as I'm sharing with a colleague, and it only
takes about 3 hours extra over flying. The fact my last three flights
back from Geneva were all between two and three hours late have some bearing on
my decision...

I am well over the 2,500 limit, and nowhere near the 18,000.

I wonder - is it greener to drive 1,000 miles, or fly it in a modern Airbus?
Any ideas, anyone?

Besides the above nit pick, I agree with your statments.

Peter.

	re -1, it may not be greener to drive to Paris, but it might be safer!
	As for driving being more green in that particular case, then as with
	all these arguments, everything we do has an effect on the environment.
	In the short to medium term we must reach a position where what we do
	isn't hurting the planet and that our lifestyle is maintained from
	renewable resources.  Ever seen Soyent Green?

	Dave

    re-1
    Stats show actually safer to fly!

    When this mileage business was introduced, I was working at BT. We had
    the situation, I kid you not, where three or four managers, going to
    another office for a meeting, would *each* take a car, just to get the
    personal mileage up.
    
    Laurie.

Outrageous !!!! That'd never happen in Digital !

Hah !

    Flying has got to be greener.
    
    For a start, you're using a couple of miles of concrete instead of
    600-odd there and back 8*)  (If you took the air taxi from White
    Waltham - not as outrageous as you might imagine - it's a thousand
    yards or so of grass at this end).
    
    You travel in straight lines, point to point.
    
    You don't drive through towns and villages (Ask the people who live
    along the road between Stranraer and the M6 about this).
    
    Jet fuel is unleaded.
    
    It's probably quieter.  Seriously.  This has just occurred to me. 
    Okay, jet aircraft are noisy, but only near the ground.  When they're
    seven miles up, nobody hears them.  If you take the hundred-odd people
    out of the passenger cabin and put them all in cars, it's got to add up
    to a lot more noise...
    
    I could go on all day...8*)
    
    Richard
    

    re:last
    
    Their are some good points here, but just because we are not aware of
    the noise pollution etc. dosen't mean that this is greener. When these
    aircraft take-off surely their exhaust gases and the pollution carried
    along with them must get scattered over a wide area. Anyway who's
    suggesting that DEC do away with car fleet and hand it over to BAA:-)
                                                                         

I've just learned that my travel is off, due to some UK travel restriction
regarding European Travel - if it's not for a direct customer/revenue thing,
it's cancelled. Since this was for an internal meeting, it seems I can't
travel.

My colleague (who works for an Area group, but is UK based) will probably
now have to fly, at increased overall cost to Digital, and also at increased
personal hassle, as he was going on holiday direct from the meeting in FYO.

I'll try and sort it out tomorrow, when the relevant managers are around.

Peter.

 >> as he was going on holiday direct from the meeting in FYO.

	Isn't this another (taxable) perk? :-)