Anti-cycling bias in todays Metro

kurako

http://www.metro.co.uk/news/854617-bike ... h-40p-bill

MP claiims 40p for a bike journey. Big deal, does 40p merit a front page article? Apparently, the 40p claim came a day after he claimed £84 for driving his car. I assume if he'd driven his car on the second day and claimed a much larger sum than the contentious 40p no one would even bat an eyelid.

What a load of old bollocks. Must be a slow news day. God forbid they bore London commuters with gloomy stuff like deaths in Egypt or Afghanistan.

W1

Surely the taxpayer should be pleased that when he's claiming 20p a mile for the bike he's NOT claiming 40p a mile for his car?!

I love the fact that by comment three we're into the insurance/licence rant already! Top work Mr Mental!

bails87

The Metro isn't just in London

And it's part of the Daily Mail group, so of course they're anti-cyclist. Only communists and asylum seekers ride bikes. Good, honest, hardworking middle-class people drive cars.

CyclingBantam

I saw that this morning. I put it down as soon as I saw what the article was about.

It is irrespective that he was cycling, it is front page on a natioal newspaper that someone has claimed £4.80.

Ever since the Brand Ross scandal people seem obsessed with complaining about every little thing. They lose any sight of perspective.

CiB

Only two comments before some bozo completely ignores the article and does a copy n paste anti-cycling tossw@nk.

rjsterry

Surprise, surprise, the F***wits' (sorry, Taxpayers) Alliance are brought in to spout their usual drivel at the first opportunity. Why does anyone think they have any legitimacy to comment on anything? Wouldn't let my cat (if I had one) sh*t on it. Just reconfirms my opinion of 'journalists'.

Harveytile

I've got no problem with people claiming 20p per mile. Hell we all can (provided it's not a bike under a cyclesheme type agreement). The thing that grates me is why make such a huge deal about these small sums when the £84(ish) from the previous day's claim goes in without comment! :roll:

bails87

rjsterry wrote:

Surprise, surprise, the F***wits' (sorry, Taxpayers) Alliance are brought in

I think you mean the Taxdodgers Alliance.

notsoblue

Just to balance this
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-12149696

I actually thought Zoe Williams did a good job of representing the cyclist "community" there. Surprised...

hatbeard

notsoblue wrote:

Just to balance this
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-12149696

I actually thought Zoe Williams did a good job of representing the cyclist "community" there. Surprised...

I post on a forum where adam rayner is a member of the magazine portion of their site so I made a thread asking why he felt the need to turn a discussion about increasing cycle awareness into another rant about red light jumping and forcing cyclists to be registered.

no reply from him so far but I'm having a fun back and forth with the motorists who all jumped in with their own anti-cyclist b***ocks.

Lancslad

Wish I got payed travelling to work. If they didnt maybe more mps would cycle or do something about petrol prices.

notsoblue

Lancslad wrote:

Wish I got payed travelling to work. If they didnt maybe more mps would cycle or do something about petrol prices.

Fact is, you could do a job that meant you could claim mileage on expenses, or could have a company car. The fact that you don't doesn't mean that nobody else should.

rjsterry

Surprised? Zoe Williams can normally be relied upon for a bit of common sense and reasonableness.

Or do you mean surprised that they got someone decent on to put the cyclists' side of the argument?

Oh, and if I hear one more person say, "If only we were more like Holland"... as if they have some panacea that can just magically materialise hundreds of miles of dedicated cycle routes out of thin air. It's taken them 30 years of constant government pressure to get where they are, so I'll be in my 60s by the time that happens in this country. [/rant]

t4tomo

I read it too and thought "thick journalist" . any employee can claim 20p a mile for business mileage on a bike. they should be congratulating teh MP for using green transport and saving the tax payer money. Fat lazy journo would have jumped in a taxi for same journey probably

W1

notsoblue wrote:

Just to balance this
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-12149696

I actually thought Zoe Williams did a good job of representing the cyclist "community" there. Surprised...

I'll watch that later, but usually she completely annoys the crap out of me and I brace myself whenever I know she's speaking or writing on behalf of the "cycling community".

alfablue

Lancslad wrote:

Wish I got payed travelling to work. If they didn't maybe more mps would cycle or do something about petrol prices.

I think it is really about travelling DURING work. I get 20p/mile for that, I do not get it for getting to my primary place of work. I think this is the arrangement that applies to most people who get such expenses.

I get 40p/mile for driving. This is the figure that is the limit HMRC set for this being tax-free, however these days 40p does not cover fuel and all the associated costs of car ownership, so the vast majority of people who drive during their work and get this payment are probably subsidising the employers true costs.

notsoblue

W1 wrote:

notsoblue wrote:

Just to balance this
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-12149696

I actually thought Zoe Williams did a good job of representing the cyclist "community" there. Surprised...

I'll watch that later, but usually she completely annoys the crap out of me and I brace myself whenever I know she's speaking or writing on behalf of the "cycling community".

rjsterry wrote:

Surprised? Zoe Williams can normally be relied upon for a bit of common sense and reasonableness.

Or do you mean surprised that they got someone decent on to put the cyclists' side of the argument?

Surprised that Zoe Williams had an opinion I agreed with and could take seriously. She was actually pretty rational and represented cyclists quite well.

I especially like her point about how every discussion about the rights of cyclists shouldn't start with a focus on cyclists that break the law.

jonny_trousers

Unless the web version linked above is different to the paper version I cannot see how the article was saying anything negative about cycling.

bails87

alfablue wrote:

I get 40p/mile for driving. This is the figure that is the limit HMRC set for this being tax-free, however these days 40p does not cover fuel and all the associated costs of car ownership, so the vast majority of people who drive during their work and get this payment are probably subsidising the employers true costs.

Well maybe that should encourage people to drive more economical cars.

EDIT: 50mpg @£1.30/litre = 11pence per mile
Insurance, I added 3000 miles to my policy, this cost an extra £30 (and I'm young and male, so I doubt there'll be many people paying much more), so that's 1 pence per mile.

So 12p per mile, plus depreciation and wear and tear. It's easily doable, I used to make a nice profit when doing work journeys in my 106. I probably still do in my new car (65+mpg on the motorway), averages out at 47ish with town driving. It's yet another incentive to drive less/choose a more economical car that people are ignoring.

deebizzle

notsoblue wrote:
Just to balance this
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-12149696

I actually thought Zoe Williams did a good job of representing the cyclist "community" there. Surprised...


I'll watch that later, but usually she completely annoys the crap out of me and I brace myself whenever I know she's speaking or writing on behalf of the "cycling community".

Agree - I find her writing pretty irritating but she came across well in that.

I think the "motorist" dude could do with riding a bike occasionally...[/quote]

Agent57

Blimey, Adam Rayner should get on a bloody bike.

I claim cycling mileage when I use my bike to go to meetings. I wouldn't expect to claim for travel to and from my normal place of work, but using it for work and claiming seems fair enough.

rjsterry

notsoblue wrote:

W1 wrote:

notsoblue wrote:

Just to balance this
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-12149696

I actually thought Zoe Williams did a good job of representing the cyclist "community" there. Surprised...

I'll watch that later, but usually she completely annoys the crap out of me and I brace myself whenever I know she's speaking or writing on behalf of the "cycling community".

rjsterry wrote:

Surprised? Zoe Williams can normally be relied upon for a bit of common sense and reasonableness.

Or do you mean surprised that they got someone decent on to put the cyclists' side of the argument?

Surprised that Zoe Williams had an opinion I agreed with and could take seriously. She was actually pretty rational and represented cyclists quite well.

I especially like her point about how every discussion about the rights of cyclists shouldn't start with a focus on cyclists that break the law.

Thought that was a very good point too. I've usually found her writing a lot less irritating than most journalists, but that is a pretty low hurdle to clear.

georgee

hatbeard wrote:

notsoblue wrote:

Just to balance this
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-12149696

I actually thought Zoe Williams did a good job of representing the cyclist "community" there. Surprised...

I post on a forum where adam rayner is a member of the magazine portion of their site so I made a thread asking why he felt the need to turn a discussion about increasing cycle awareness into another rant about red light jumping and forcing cyclists to be registered.

no reply from him so far but I'm having a fun back and forth with the motorists who all jumped in with their own anti-cyclist b***ocks.

Please start a thread there asking what models of car can Adam Rayner fit into?

Dudu

bails87 wrote:

The Metro isn't just in London

And it's part of the Daily Mail group, so of course they're anti-cyclist. Only communists and asylum seekers ride bikes. Good, honest, hardworking middle-class people drive cars.

As Zoe Williams wrote recently in the LCC magazine:

"We have an innate British tendency to confuse being wealthy with being upstanding and socially responsible. Car drivers, having cars and paying tax, musi be wealthier than cyclists, ergo, they must be more civically minded, and civilisation has a greater duty to them"

That's in spite of the average London commuter cyclist being wealthier than the average London commuter driver, according to a survey somewhere-or-other.

daviesee

georgee wrote:

Please start a thread there asking what models of car can Adam Rayner fit into?

Guaranteed they won't be enviromentally friendly :twisted:

alfablue

bails87 wrote:

alfablue wrote:

I get 40p/mile for driving. This is the figure that is the limit HMRC set for this being tax-free, however these days 40p does not cover fuel and all the associated costs of car ownership, so the vast majority of people who drive during their work and get this payment are probably subsidising the employers true costs.

Well maybe that should encourage people to drive more economical cars.

EDIT: 50mpg @£1.30/litre = 11pence per mile
Insurance, I added 3000 miles to my policy, this cost an extra £30 (and I'm young and male, so I doubt there'll be many people paying much more), so that's 1 pence per mile.

So 12p per mile, plus depreciation and wear and tear. It's easily doabthe countryside for le, I used to make a nice profit when doing work journeys in my 106. I probably still do in my new car (65+mpg on the motorway), averages out at 47ish with town driving. It's yet another incentive to drive less/choose a more economical car that people are ignoring.

I entirely agree, it would be desirable to buy more economical cars. Fact is though, I have the car I have and can't afford to change it, and the vast majority is urban driving, so economy is poorer. Yes, I am being punished for my poor decisions in the past!

That said, I am pretty much anti-driving now, having only driven once this year, and ironically, that was to take the bikes to the start of a day ride.

I am starting to think, though, 20p is not enough for cycling miles, especially with the appetite I have developed!

Dudu

Agent57 wrote:

Blimey, Adam Rayner should get on a bloody bike..

Good grief, who is that fat git? He looks like an over-inflated blow-up doll of Paul Merton.

Now we know where all the pies went.

hatbeard

to be fair Adam is actually a really nice friendly guy it's just his take on this topic I take exception to.

pianoleo

20p a mile ISN'T much, especially bearing in mind that you could only claim £3 for an hour cycling as opposed to probably £28 for an hour driving, but bear in mind it's mileage during hours you're already being paid to work. Being paid my hourly rate plus £3 an hour (ok, £2.40 an hour - I'm slow) to cycle rather than work sounds like a bargain!

BigJimmyB

He always reminds me of Peter Griffin...

notsoblue

Dudu wrote:

bails87 wrote:

The Metro isn't just in London

And it's part of the Daily Mail group, so of course they're anti-cyclist. Only communists and asylum seekers ride bikes. Good, honest, hardworking middle-class people drive cars.

As Zoe Williams wrote recently in the LCC magazine:

"We have an innate British tendency to confuse being wealthy with being upstanding and socially responsible. Car drivers, having cars and paying tax, musi be wealthier than cyclists, ergo, they must be more civically minded, and civilisation has a greater duty to them"

That's in spite of the average London commuter cyclist being wealthier than the average London commuter driver, according to a survey somewhere-or-other.

Thats a brilliant insight! Very well put indeed. I have to admit that my main bias against Zoe Williams is probably due to my having only encountered her articles on pregnancy and childbirth... I've reformed my opinion...