The official let off steam thread

[mr wilks]

Robbing b4st4rd train companies !
How the ferk can Burnley to Newcastle via York with single booking be £62 yet i can pay £20 Burnley to York then £16 for York to Newcastle ( all the same trains & times )
That's not business , its villainous & no different to any other online fraud imo

Thats a good question - Ask your local MP.
...and they WANT people to use public transport !

Its so blatant though it really does feel like fraud .
I'm actually going to Dunston about 10mins from Newcastle , so York to Dunston with a change of train at Newcastle is £16 , fine , but if you put in York to Newcastle direct ( same company , same train , same times ) its suddenly £22.50 yep more money for one less journey w t f

[pvr]

That is a known trick. Same trick that I buy flight tickets from Dublin to London and back and throw one leg away as it is cheaper than buying a London to Dublin return.

[Number5]

That is a known trick. Same trick that I buy flight tickets from Dublin to London and back and throw one leg away as it is cheaper than buying a London to Dublin return.

You would have thought that you'd be Dublin the cost PVR ?

[mr wilks]

That is a known trick. Same trick that I buy flight tickets from Dublin to London and back and throw one leg away as it is cheaper than buying a London to Dublin return.

I was so close to buying the £62 ticket until my daughter suggested breaking the journey into segments as its often cheaper not being a big train user i found it hard to believe . glad i have a teen at home occasionally

[Moheddine]

Train ticket prices are outrageous and seem to follow no logic. Over £8k a year from Swindon to London, on a journey which takes less than an hour, and which you have to stand. Doubt it would be so high if Network Rail staff that are based in the offices here didn't get free travel passes.

[bluestreak56]

Train ticket prices are outrageous and seem to follow no logic. Over £8k a year from Swindon to London, on a journey which takes less than an hour, and which you have to stand. Doubt it would be so high if Network Rail staff that are based in the offices here didn't get free travel passes.

Takes me longer than an hour to get to many places in London .. from West London!

[pvr]

First class ticket to Amsterdam is 1.5 hours by train costing me less than £20. Trains in the uk are a joke.

[Ewazix]

AS a first time tax self assessment user (for rental income) I knew it was going to be tricky! but it's 8loody painful
First I register for on line SA and wait several days for a UTR.
Then I set up the account for User ID and password and wait several days for an activation code.
Then I activate the account only to find the used ID /password wouldn't work and the account got locked out.
I call helpdesk, advised to reset password but have to wait 2 hrs to use the system
I reset password (part by email)
Then I have to set up full online services with an access code sent to my mobile after a wait.
Finally I start the Self Assessment form, half hour in the system crashes and will not let me back in.
I call helpdesk, they say it's a tech problem and it's escalated, they will call back (yea).
No call so I set up 2nd password, it didnt work.
Try again later now it does.
But every time you log in the system has to send you a new access code to mobile
System boshes again so I have to set up 3rd password,
Log in again so need a new access code to mobile.
Hey now it works works and form is continued.
Parts of the online form have no explanatory notes so I have no real idea what is being asked for, so two more calls have to be made for assistance, in between the system times me out so need new access code to mobile!
Role on several hrs - I finish the form but think the calculation is clearly wrong, it's trying to charge me tax that's already being recovered by slashing my PAYE tax code so I'm being fleeced twice for the same tax.
I call the helpdesk who confirm that it appears i am already paying unpaid tax through tax code because they jumped the gun in Oct/Nov, but now I must submit the return and pay the tax (twice) they will sort out double payment of tax in due course. great! They ask me to submit and call back in 72 hrs when they will be able to confirm that's the case.
I log back in, so need new access code to mobile, and submit, and look forward to the next chapter.........
I'm totally mentally drained! To be fair the staff were great and gave me info I needed, easy because they had it all on screen! ....... so why TF am I filling out a form to tell them what they already knew?
Rant over

[Jasey]

why TF am I filling out a form to tell them what they already knew?

Because now when they discover it's wrong it will be your fault and you will get another bill.

[gannet]

AS a first time tax self assessment user (for rental income) I knew it was going to be tricky! but it's 8loody painful
First I register for on line SA and wait several days for a UTR.
Then I set up the account for User ID and password and wait several days for an activation code.
Then I activate the account only to find the used ID /password wouldn't work and the account got locked out.
I call helpdesk, advised to reset password but have to wait 2 hrs to use the system
I reset password (part by email)
Then I have to set up full online services with an access code sent to my mobile after a wait.
Finally I start the Self Assessment form, half hour in the system crashes and will not let me back in.
I call helpdesk, they say it's a tech problem and it's escalated, they will call back (yea).
No call so I set up 2nd password, it didnt work.
Try again later now it does.
But every time you log in the system has to send you a new access code to mobile
System boshes again so I have to set up 3rd password,
Log in again so need a new access code to mobile.
Hey now it works works and form is continued.
Parts of the online form have no explanatory notes so I have no real idea what is being asked for, so two more calls have to be made for assistance, in between the system times me out so need new access code to mobile!
Role on several hrs - I finish the form but think the calculation is clearly wrong, it's trying to charge me tax that's already being recovered by slashing my PAYE tax code so I'm being fleeced twice for the same tax.
I call the helpdesk who confirm that it appears i am already paying unpaid tax through tax code because they jumped the gun in Oct/Nov, but now I must submit the return and pay the tax (twice) they will sort out double payment of tax in due course. great! They ask me to submit and call back in 72 hrs when they will be able to confirm that's the case.
I log back in, so need new access code to mobile, and submit, and look forward to the next chapter.........
I'm totally mentally drained! To be fair the staff were great and gave me info I needed, easy because they had it all on screen! ....... so why TF am I filling out a form to tell them what they already knew?
Rant over

the first time is always the worst!

my tax should now be really simple, but every year I either owe them a small amount or sometimes they owe me...

yet every year they send me a notification that I no longer need to fill one in.... er yeah right, so if I stop and at some point in the future they work out that I should of paid more for every year since I'll end up in trouble and with a big bill... So every year I call and say no, please let me continue AND STOP TELLING ME I CAN STOP.... yes ok sir no problem.... guess what I received the other day?!

liking this thread

[Ewazix]

Cheers Jasey & gannet, I was honestly in melt down mainly because of the damned on-line system crashing and the mind numbing pointlessness of trying to find and regurgitate the info they have sent me, back to them .....a whole day of my life wasted!

Anyway gannet you may be right I did my wife's with her today and the system ran like clockwork, the thanks I get?
"Don't know what you were making all the fuss about with yours"
Right

[mr wilks]

RE the self assessment ? Total joke system that is operated virtually on trust unless your name is picked out for inspection . There was a fella last year almost jailed for having a laugh with himself by multiplying by 10 his income he inputted & also by 10 his expenditure , within 2 weeks he had a rebate for almost £20k in his bank when he'd only earned around £22k , the judge ruled the money to be repaid but no jail as the Inland Revenue system was clearly flawed

[Moheddine]

Car drivers who don't see cyclists, cyclists who think that wearing a helmet and hi-viz makes them invisible through red lights, mopeds and motorbikes that think they are bicycles when entering a bicycle box at the lights, people who cross the road when not safe to do so and when there is a red man, taxi drivers that don't indicate pulling in or out, bus drivers who don't leave a gap to pass, lorry drivers that block box junctions.

Police and PCSOs who see all of the above and do nowt.

[Moheddine]

Oh, and cats.

NB - big cats are excluded

[firebobby]

Is it just me, I have just seen that Pauline McC has been moved down to London AGAIN. She was flown down by the RAF, given large police escort at both ends of the journey WTF!!
I know she has this sh***y disease but she should have stayed in Sierra Leone, she's a walking time bomb
How much is all this costing and why can't she be treated in Scotland.