Omega Owners Forum

Chat Area => General Discussion Area => Topic started by: Banjax on 04 March 2011, 11:15:23

Title: How many taxpayers does it take to.............
Post by: Banjax on 04 March 2011, 11:15:23

.........change a lightbulb?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-12643966

now, we know ministers and public servants are enormously relaxed about spending our money, but £22 for a lightbulb? £103 for screws you can buy for £2.60? I think the fraud squad should investigate this ludicrous waste of money -smacks of criminal activity.......unless thats how the defence department pays for al the secret "black ops" and "alien technology" stuff?  :o

Title: Re: How many taxpayers does it take to.............
Post by: Danny on 04 March 2011, 16:20:21

they're arguing it was a specialist lightbulb of some sort, not some household 50p job, and they say they buy around 5 in a year

Title: Re: How many taxpayers does it take to.............
Post by: Entwood on 04 March 2011, 16:30:22

Apparently .. this is a complete load of rubbish .... at least this is how it is being reported on a military forum ... 

The "invoice" came from an infantry soldier .. who saw "light bulbs - £22 and gave the story to the paper .... who never checked it.

On the invoice is a box labelled "D of Q" and has the entry "100" therein ....

Now, for those non-military types ... "D of Q" = "Denomination of Quantity" ... so 100 means 100 bulbs supplied ..at £22.00

Which means each bulb actually cost 22p ....  :)

Another site is now reporting that the "bulb" in question was a specific bulb for a Watchman Radar Scope ......   :)

Never let the truth get in the way of a good story .. :)

Title: Re: How many taxpayers does it take to.............
Post by: Banjax on 04 March 2011, 17:19:15

ahh - the Sun - should've known  ;)

Title: Re: How many taxpayers does it take to.............
Post by: Gaffers on 04 March 2011, 17:51:58

Quote

ahh - the Sun - should've known  ;)

Got you on the soapbox quick though..... ::)

Title: Re: How many taxpayers does it take to.............
Post by: Banjax on 04 March 2011, 19:21:08

Quote

Quote

ahh - the Sun - should've known  ;)

Got you on the soapbox quick though..... ::)

funnily enough if someone else had posted it i'd probably have dismissed the story as garbage  ;D

Title: Re: How many taxpayers does it take to.............
Post by: I_want_an_Omega on 04 March 2011, 20:15:42

Many years ago the company I worked for did repairs on an MoD computer. I had to change a "hammer"  - which was part of an old computer line printer. The "hammer" was a precision device containing a solenoid that struck a rotating drum with embossed characters. Sandwiched between the drum and hammer was a massive ribbon and the white/green stripy "computer" paper of days gone by. It could print blooming quickly & used to make a hell of a noise.

A few weeks later I got a call from MoD Audit asking me why we had charged them more than £100 for a hammer.

So, it shows that they (sometimes) check that taxpayers money is being spent properly!