POLICE PRIVATISATION PRICE HIKE
West Yorkshire Police have privatised Speed
Awareness courses that drivers can take to avid points on their licences.
In doing so they have increased the cost to
drivers by 20% as the courses now cost 20% more than when they were done by the
local authority.
In addition any profit made from running the
courses will now be pocketed by TTC the Southern based firm that was awarded
the contract, rather than being spent on road safety projects as previously.
It seems ironic that most of the
conservative areas of the country have not privatised the courses. TTC the
Telford based company now have 25% of the schemes operated in the UK.
The Police informed Kirklees that their bid
was the better quality bid but that TTC beat them on price. This is difficult
to understand as the price charged to motorists has increased by 20%. The
Police are not supposed to make any profit from the courses and only take the
admin costs that must be the same for both bids. The only conclusion that can
be reached is that West Yorkshire Police have chosen to give profits to a
private company in Telford by charging motorists more, giving a poorer service
and cutting Road Safety spending in West Yorkshire.
