Perks of the job

Nov 12 2007 by Larry Neild, Liverpool Daily Post

AS A young journalist, I was once invited to dine at a local factory and I was allowed to use the executive loo.

Not the shopfloor toilet, or even the slightly better mid-management utility block. Oh. no. Young Neild was ushered towards the place where the chairman and the directors spent their gold-plated pennies.

My host’s prize possession was a key to this citadel of convenience. I remember answering the call of nature did not seem enhanced by this temporary elevation to the higher orders.

Of course, I had parked my car in the senior management car park. Never before had such an old banger invaded this space, lined up against a neat line of executive Jaguars.

My faithful old Singer Gazelle left its own calling card, a few dribbles of sump oil.

These were, and in many cases still are, the perks of the job, goodies and freebies dished out to the privileged few.

Such a conundrum over perks has raised its head in the corridors of power at Liverpool Town Hall.

The council is required to produce a workplace travel plan. The main aim is to get council staff out of those cars and on to eco-friendly modes of transport, like bus, train, cycle and worst of all, on foot.

Hundreds of staff park within a short distance of the council’s main offices in Dale Street, paying £25 a month.

The council has to pay £900 for each of those reserved spaces which effectively means each of those employees are subsidised to the tune of £600 a year.

Hundreds of other council staff have an even better deal – they get to park for free.

Free parking is also available to all 90 elected councillors – though let me stress not all councillors use this facility.

Am I outraged by this handy little perk for employees of the municipality?

Of course not, I am full of envy.

Who wants to drag themselves across the city on a cold, wet and windy day when for just over a quid you can coast into an undercover car park and make the short hop to the office?

Not since the invention of the wheel has anybody come up with a more convenient way of getting around than by car.

The days, it seems, of free or cheap car parking could be numbered in the interests of saving the planet.

My big suspicion is that civic mandarins of the lower orders – those in old money who would have used the shop floor or mid-management loos – will have their perks sacrificed on a green altar.

The top-tier people will cling onto their civic perks with a vengeance, leaving the rest to struggle to work on public transport or some other mode that is carbon neutral.

The first rule of the decision-makers will, as ever, override eco-friendly policies – do as I say, not as I do.