Passport chaos

[jac]

You have visited there and checked productivity have you ? Or are you just spouting your prejudices?

And an efficient system can be worked efficiently from any location - indeed work from home can get higher quality staff working more productively than people wasting hours a day stuck on a commute.

Totally agree. But I work for a private sector organisation that has digitised work for decades

 

[PlanB]

Part of the problem is that where people's personal documents are involved, there seem to be security/data protection issues about staff having those documents at home, which limits the things they can work on.

 

[RobbieW]

 

[Daydream believer]

You have visited there and checked productivity have you ? Or are you just spouting your prejudices?

And an efficient system can be worked efficiently from any location - indeed work from home can get higher quality staff working more productively than people wasting hours a day stuck on a commute.

Well for starters the commute is not in work hours. They are expected to work 8 hours a day ( or whatever)They will not do any extra hours because they do not commute. They will just stay in bed longer.
I have worked for LA's & with such organisations for years. The level of inefficiency & shear laziness is unbelievable. That does not apply to all I might add. I have seen some who clearly are dedicated & a few who do not give a flying fig. They work the system to the full.
I know several people who work in local govt. & it is obvious that there is a culture of dodging work. Working from home for many is just a way of sciving off. No one will convince me otherwise. I have seen them when they are at work, so do not tell me they are any better at home

 

[dunedin]

Part of the problem is that where people's personal documents are involved, there seem to be security/data protection issues about staff having those documents at home, which limits the things they can work on.

Nope. Not generally, when using a well designed system. All the input paper is digitised and routed to the relevant operator, who could be in any company premises or at home. The computer system tends to work on a “virtual machine” basis whereby nothing is stored locally on the office or home computer, only shown on screen - and screen shots and prints strictly controlled. Clearly an operator could take a photo of a screen with a mobile phone, but that could be done in an office also.
Very widely used systems even before Covid, and rapidly rolled out much further due to Covid.

 

[dgadee]

Well, I know nothing of civil service work practices but IT keeps a very close eye on admin workers.

 

[Daydream believer]

Was that the over-70 jobbie?? Now you mention it I applied, and got an on-line acknowledgement, on 8th April but have not seen a licence yet. I don't cut up and return the old one until I've got the new. I did have a thought that perhaps they wait for the old before issuing the new, giving rise to a Catch-22. But I don't think they do that; too much like hard work!

I did the same & carry the old one for identity. No one checks the date, Have you ever tried to sort what date your own licence expires, let alone someone else's ??? If the police stop me they probably would not look at the date, but they could soon check online that I have one. I would just say whoops I have chopped the wrong one.
I do the same with my old visa card. I am sometimes asked to leave my card- when hiring a bike abroad etc. I leave my old card. No one checks that it is the wrong bank & out of date. When I go to pay I just make an excuse & change cards.

 

[capnsensible]

I wonder if that counts as credit card fraud, knowingly using an invalid card?

 

[Daydream believer]

I wonder if that counts as credit card fraud, knowingly using an invalid card?

Did not use it to pay the bill & certainly did not default on the bill & never intended to. What i do not like doing is leaving my card with a stranger. I think general advice is not to.
A filling station near us was found to be the source of dodgy card fraud . They used to take the card from the customer, to put it in the reader for the payment. Accidentally drop it on the floor behind the counter, apologise, then whilst retrieving it slip it in a card reader of their own & somehow take a copy. It took a while for the law to catch them but when they did it made the local rag & the filling station was shut for a while.

 

[mjcoon]

Did not use it to pay the bill & certainly did not default on the bill & never intended to. What i do not like doing is leaving my card with a stranger. I think general advice is not to.
A filling station near us was found to be the source of dodgy card fraud . They used to take the card from the customer, to put it in the reader for the payment. Accidentally drop it on the floor behind the counter, apologise, then whilst retrieving it slip it in a card reader of their own & somehow take a copy. It took a while for the law to catch them but when they did it made the local rag & the filling station was shut for a while.

That used to be rather easy before chip-and-PIN came in, because the magnetic stripe was rather low-tech.

 

[mjcoon]

I did the same & carry the old one for identity. No one checks the date, Have you ever tried to sort what date your own licence expires, let alone someone else's ??? If the police stop me they probably would not look at the date, but they could soon check online that I have one. I would just say whoops I have chopped the wrong one.

For rather obvious reasons, in the case of a driving licence the police are much more interested in whether it has been withdrawn than that it has expired!

 

[Daydream believer]

For rather obvious reasons, in the case of a driving licence the police are much more interested in whether it has been withdrawn than that it has expired!

So you are telling us that they have little interest if one is driving with an expired licence. I suggest that you have a rethink

 

[mjcoon]

So you are telling us that they have little interest if one is driving with an expired licence. I suggest that you have a rethink

It was you who said: "If the police stop me they probably would not look at the date..."!

 

[ashtead]

I can report the civil servant in Victoria just behInd the station in eccleston square passports was very helpful yesterday and saved a day out in Durham but after many calls etc .

 

[Daydream believer]

It was you who said: "If the police stop me they probably would not look at the date..."!

But I am not driving under an expired licence as I do have the legal one at home. There is a difference
But I take your point, so concede

 

[Stemar]

When Mr Plod asks for you licence these days, chances are he already knows if you have one an what groups it's valid for. If he's asking, chances are he knows there's something wrong.

Same with the other documents. Back in the 70s we'd have to issue a form to produce your documents at a police station and let you go. Now it's all available in seconds.

 

[Scomber]

Police stopped partner and daughter driving to visit us at wkend. No vis probs other than they had noticed him driving and car only reg as daughter owner driver. Just a check . All from reg recognition within a min, and of course his insurance etc. Good on them I thought.

 

[gordmac]

Thread puts me in mind of the Dilbert cartoon where, working from home, he wonders whether he is due the 8 hours work he is paid for or the four productive hours he would manage if he was in the office. Personally I would find working from home more productive as there are fewer distractions. If you skive working from home you would skive working in the office.

 

[dgadee]

Thread puts me in mind of the Dilbert cartoon where, working from home, he wonders whether he is due the 8 hours work he is paid for or the four productive hours he would manage if he was in the office. Personally I would find working from home more productive as there are fewer distractions. If you skive working from home you would skive working in the office.

So true. I worked from home for years and had a productive career. But office politics will also get in your way - the dead, non-creative wood who are in the office every day will always be paid more than you: spending more time pushing themselves forward than doing work.

 

[Fr J Hackett]

Thread puts me in mind of the Dilbert cartoon where, working from home, he wonders whether he is due the 8 hours work he is paid for or the four productive hours he would manage if he was in the office. Personally I would find working from home more productive as there are fewer distractions. If you skive working from home you would skive working in the office.

Not true, on the few occasions I attempted to work from home (recovering from operations) I always found more desirable things to do whereas at work there were no distractions and I worked all day apart from the odd cup of coffee or when someone wandered into my office. Some can and have the discipline others like me can't and or don't have the self discipline.