Reply to: The parasites that rule us

[zoco]

The council are in the pockets of big business. I have two retail premises plus offices. One shop is a fully fitted out coffee shop, Both are closed, killed off by business rates and the corrupt council. There is a hard core of local retailers who fight the council but the threats they get is unbelievable. One small photographic shop a stone’s throw away is paying £8k per month business rates. Any new venture that is in competition with big companies will be hounded until they shut up shop. I know two petrol station franchises that were hounded by a supermarket chain. On committed suicide, the other gave up in tears.

For the same reason you don't follow the same rules as a Permie. You are different and a different set of rules should apply. These should reflect the reality of the situation, now if you are saying that pop up restaurants need to have the same facilities as a bricks and mortar restaurant that surely is a policy decision not an Axiom? Obviously safety rules are paramount but the others need to be specified sensitively if we wish to encourage these businesses.



There is a difference between Government and Council, whilst the Government may support driveway parking the councils do not, a simple story that puts both sides is linked to below:

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/p...w-driveway-tax

now you owe Zoco an apology because (S)he was not LYING, you were just ill informed.

Sorry to be rude but you started it.

it probably just comes down to human greed

the one man pop up pizza shop will not make money for anyone but the owner...

therefore the council will stop it as they cannot give lucrative contracts to people while lining their own pockets..

they are all just scum

Hear hear!

And in the mean time the services they provide get worse and cost more money. Don't even get me started on waste disposal or the state of the roads.

And furthermore - they harp on about these wicked cuts but still seem to have the resources to produce a glossy magazine that they send out to everyone in the district twice a year trumpeting their commitment to the pernicious cult of "equality and diversity"

[vetran]

What do you think IR35 is for?

to pretend to raise tax to placate permies, to ensure large party donations /backhanders roll in from the outsourcers who abuse their staff and immigration rules.

[original PM]

it probably just comes down to human greed

the one man pop up pizza shop will not make money for anyone but the owner...

therefore the council will stop it as they cannot give lucrative contracts to people while lining their own pockets..

they are all just scum

[Bunk]

What do you think IR35 is for?

[vetran]

Why shouldn't a pop-up have to follow the same rules as a proper restaurant?

For the same reason you don't follow the same rules as a Permie. You are different and a different set of rules should apply. These should reflect the reality of the situation, now if you are saying that pop up restaurants need to have the same facilities as a bricks and mortar restaurant that surely is a policy decision not an Axiom? Obviously safety rules are paramount but the others need to be specified sensitively if we wish to encourage these businesses.

Are you just wilfully lying? Only two weeks ago the government was backing rent-your-drive schemes.

There is a difference between Government and Council, whilst the Government may support driveway parking the councils do not, a simple story that puts both sides is linked to below:

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/p...w-driveway-tax

now you owe Zoco an apology because (S)he was not LYING, you were just ill informed.

Sorry to be rude but you started it.

[Paddy]

The council are in the pockets of big business. I have two retail premises plus offices. One shop is a fully fitted out coffee shop, Both are closed, killed off by business rates and the corrupt council. There is a hard core of local retailers who fight the council but the threats they get is unbelievable. One small photographic shop a stone’s throw away is paying £8k per month business rates. Any new venture that is in competition with big companies will be hounded until they shut up shop. I know two petrol station franchises that were hounded by a supermarket chain. One committed suicide, the other gave up in tears.

[vetran]

I'd be more worried about the gastro-enterous-charm.

not sure why, many 'professional kitchens' I have been in seemed to have no idea or more likely no respect of Hygiene but small vendors I have met are constantly wiping and disinfecting surfaces.

Because its big doesn't mean its good just that it can fill in the big boys paperwork.

All the small vendors will have had to do a food hygiene course and are if they are owner + Operators are more likely to be more intelligent and diligent than a fast food chain's minimum wage staff.

[Moscow Mule]

. It's the whole guerilla charm of it but there you go...

I'd be more worried about the gastro-enterous-charm.

[zoco]

Why shouldn't a pop-up have to follow the same rules as a proper restaurant?

I'm all for disabled access and I can understand that the same rules should apply to all but I can't help feeling that it's a bit over the top telling him he has to have disabled access to what is ostensibly his garden thunderbox when he's just running a temporary seasonal operation.

Of course, he could get rid of the tables and chairs in his garden and make it a takeaway - then he wouldn't have to provide the bog but then the oufit would lose its appeal as he also "sells" alcohol via a donation box & people often have a few ciders with their pizzas whilst they eat them in the garden. It's the whole guerilla charm of it but there you go...

[d000hg]

But a bloke up the road who has done this for the last couple of years had to stop doing it this year because of the normal crap - mostly work he needed to do for health and safety - and also disabled access. No point carrying on - how would he ever compete with Pizza Express?

Why shouldn't a pop-up have to follow the same rules as a proper restaurant?

Another thing that I believe will be short lived (can't remember the name of the website but it's very popular among caravaners etc) is that scheme where you park up for free and spend the night in the carpark of a local pub, shop, cafe whatever on the premise that you will pop into said shop and spend some money. This, apparently, flouts certain laws and they are starting to crack down on that now. Ditto the simliar thing where you let shoppers park on your drive via some website.

Are you just wilfully lying? Only two weeks ago the government was backing rent-your-drive schemes.

[meridian]

<snip>I've been doing a bit of hiking round the SW coast path recently and made some enquiries into how much it would cost to arrive on foot with a 1 man tent. I was thinking 10 quid max. One campsite in Croyde quoted me £35! Of course, I commented on how steep the rates were and more than one of them mentioned higher business rates, work they had to undertake to satisfy their public liability insurance, increased premiums - things like that.

2 minutes on Google found this - Croyde, 7 or more night stay, £10 per adult.

An alternative explanation to your £35 might be, "if it's Bank Holiday weekend then we're going to screw you for all you can spend, but we don't want to tell you that so we'll blame it on rates". Or maybe, "we have better facilities so we charge more". Or any other explanation.

Now it seems they are getting their tentacles into these so called "pop up" ventures. Ok, if you have a pizza oven in your garden from which you sell pizzas to members of the public you should probably pay some kind of business rate. But a bloke up the road who has done this for the last couple of years had to stop doing it this year because of the normal crap - mostly work he needed to do for health and safety - and also disabled access. No point carrying on - how would he ever compete with Pizza Express?

Do you think that Pizza Express doesn't have to pay business rates, or provide disabled access, or comply with H&S? It's a normal cost of doing business with the public. My wife had to do basic food hygiene and serving alcohol courses before going into the food business, why should your dodgy neighbour get away with substandard practices?

Another thing that I believe will be short lived (can't remember the name of the website but it's very popular among caravaners etc) is that scheme where you park up for free and spend the night in the carpark of a local pub, shop, cafe whatever on the premise that you will pop into said shop and spend some money. This, apparently, flouts certain laws and they are starting to crack down on that now. Ditto the simliar thing where you let shoppers park on your drive via some website.

I think I see the problem.

My point is that anything undertaken by the regular person in the street will ultimately have the life force sucked out of it by this smothering, parasitic layer leaving the way open for the big boys to carry on as before.

I'm pretty sure the "big boys" aren't setting up caravan parks in Devon, or selling pizzas out of their back yards.

Although I did see that the food vans are banned from parking out the front of the Gherkin for a while, so maybe you're on to something big here.

[vetran]

The business rate comment is very valid

Its the gold plated pensions, councillors holidays sorry fact finding tours and outreach workers savage Tory cuts innit.

the Councils have had their central funding cut and limits on their council tax so they are looking round for cash wherever they can get it.

[BrilloPad]

Anyone else think this was going to be about the mod team?

Its got alot better since MF was sacked.

[SimonMac]

Anyone else think this was going to be about the mod team?

[Troll]

I'm kind of dipping my toe in the water as it were with this post as I'm not a David Icke conspiracy theorist but it's gradually been dawning on me recently how things work and I was wondering if anyone else agrees or can perhaps just tell me I'm paranoid.

A few days ago I posted about the death of the high street and how swingeing business rates and parking charges etc were contributing to this. Since then, I've had a number of experiences which have highlighted how there is what I view as a parasitic bureaucratic cum legal layer that ostensibly exists for the same reasons that such things have always existed but really is there only to serve the people who comprise that layer be it local govt, Quangos, lawyers or whatever. And nobody seems immune from them - no matter how small the concern.

I've been doing a bit of hiking round the SW coast path recently and made some enquiries into how much it would cost to arrive on foot with a 1 man tent. I was thinking 10 quid max. One campsite in Croyde quoted me £35! Of course, I commented on how steep the rates were and more than one of them mentioned higher business rates, work they had to undertake to satisfy their public liability insurance, increased premiums - things like that.

Now it seems they are getting their tentacles into these so called "pop up" ventures. Ok, if you have a pizza oven in your garden from which you sell pizzas to members of the public you should probably pay some kind of business rate. But a bloke up the road who has done this for the last couple of years had to stop doing it this year because of the normal crap - mostly work he needed to do for health and safety - and also disabled access. No point carrying on - how would he ever compete with Pizza Express?

Another thing that I believe will be short lived (can't remember the name of the website but it's very popular among caravaners etc) is that scheme where you park up for free and spend the night in the carpark of a local pub, shop, cafe whatever on the premise that you will pop into said shop and spend some money. This, apparently, flouts certain laws and they are starting to crack down on that now. Ditto the simliar thing where you let shoppers park on your drive via some website.

My point is that anything undertaken by the regular person in the street will ultimately have the life force sucked out of it by this smothering, parasitic layer leaving the way open for the big boys to carry on as before.

Last time I did hiking / camping I used to set the tent up in the sand dunes and walk into any local campsite to use their facilities

The business rate comment is very valid