THE OXFORD
CONSUMER
THE QUARTERLY MAGAZINE
of the OXFORD CONSUMERS GROUP
SPRING 1999 No 149
Government for Older People
(continued)
Organic
Farming?
Young Consumer Competitions
Disbenefits of Privatised Transport
Benefits Agency Leaflets
Oxford Railway Station (continued)
Reviewing Your Energy Costs
Letters to the Editor
New Ideas to Encourage Voting
Village Shops in Oxfordshire
Care Home Fears Confirmed
Save Money on Phone Bills
Millennium Rights
Telephone Codes
Just for Fun (or is it?)
THE OXFORD CONSUMER is
sent to members of the
OXFORD CONSUMERS GROUP (OCG)
Membership £6 a year (£3 concessionary rate)
GOVERNMENT FOR OLDER PEOPLE — (CONTINUED)
Readers who responded so generously to our Autumn questionnaire which prepared our own response to the new Cabinet Office initiative — and indeed readers who did not feel they could respond — will be wanting to know what is being done by OCG itself, by the City and the County, and indeed higher up. We can give some news from all these fronts.
For new readers: our questionnaire described briefly the "initiative for which Oxfordshire is one of the pilot areas. The Government wants to know the concerns of older people, and not just those living in straitened circumstances; it would welcome suggestions for improving their quality of life." We had hoped in the summer that OCG would itself get a place on the Oxfordshire consultative committee; but such places were awarded to some forty organisations, like Age Concern and OXPAG, which are more specifically concerned with older people than OCG is.
However, as we reported in December, the County’s Strategic Planning Officer (Social Services), Mrs Anne James, gave a warm welcome to our report on our questionnaire, told us about the next steps for the County, and gave quite some time to giving us valuable advice as to where to go from there. She told us there would be five County planning subcommittees: Environment, Education, Cultural (formerly Museums and Libraries), Public Protection, and Social Services, which would all report to the County’s Strategy & Resources Committee meeting in January.
These five titles did not quite coincide with those we had used in our questionnaire (devised before we knew the County’s plans): Housing, Health, Security, Caring Services, Jobs, Taxes, Local Services, Transport, Shopping; but almost all our concerns, except perhaps shopping problems, fitted somewhere into the subcommittees’ agendas. Our predominant concern, ticked by 37 respondents out of 69, was clearly Transport; so Mrs James arranged for our Acting Secretary to speak at the Environment Subcommittee meeting, and prepared for that meeting an admirably succinct and fair summary of our views.
By the rules for County meetings, no representative of a single group may speak for more than five minutes (or at more than one meeting); but the OCG representative was able to stress some specific points. What is needed, she emphasised, is co-ordination of transport, not just transport information, and not just county-wide but country-wide. Ring-A-Ride is welcome, but supply is far short of demand; we need restoration and/or expansion of rural bus services, and not just at what are thought to be peak hours. She would gladly supply more detailed criticisms of Gloucester Green and Oxford railway station. Finally, she was able to fire parting shots about poor pavements, poor street lighting and offending cyclists, which all contributed to the often-heard "I never go out at night."
The Subcommittee promised to pass on our views, and notes had been taken as the Acting Secretary spoke. It is clear that our concerns are widely shared, since responses to some points are already trickling in. On both Oxford Bus Company and Stagecoach buses we now see announcements of new buses and/or routes; Railtrack has announced that there will be more staff on duty to help travellers, at least in the main station hail if not on platforms; and we read in the City Centre Manager’s January newsletter that "alterations to the buildings and toilets in Gloucester Green Bus Station are due to commence in May 1999 and are due to complete in October 1999 to provide public toilet facilities on the ground floor, with enhanced provision to create a waiting-room and left-luggage facility." We are getting somewhere! We may also hope that Which?’s four-page blast "Off the Rails" in its January issue ("It’s disgusting the way you are kept in the dark about delays ... The service is diabolically appalling ...") will have some nation-wide effect.
Briefer notes on some other matters covered in our questionnaire and the responses:
Health and care-homes. "Few people know how to access them", one of our responses had said. Age Concern, we are told, has lists of homes. Among possibilities for convalescence, not all know of Stanton House, a Christian-run retreat house at Stanton St John. Nationwide, a pay award for nurses has been announced. But see p 14 for the Office of Fair Trading’s report "Care Home Fears Confirmed". In Oxford, see p 5 on "Tracking Down Benefits Agency Leaflets".
Caring services — "helping people to find help". A member lists possible channels: the Oxfordshire Council for Voluntary Action, LETS (see our Issue 141), Staying Put (see our Issue 145), our own List of Recommended Services (see p 2). The Councils have proposed a parking-permit scheme for doctors, midwives, health visitors and other medical carers; OCG has expressed its warm support.
Job-sharing: some local authorities, including Oxfordshire, do offer shared jobs with themselves. Job-Centres can offer them if such jobs are offered by employers. Texas, and B & Q, willingly recruit older employees, having presumably researched the value of their experience and local knowledge.
The problems. As well as being very ready to advise you if you phone them or visit them by arrangement, the Inland Revenue do send out speakers.
Shop deliveries. Iceland has a new teleshopping service; ring Oxford 241201, 372193 or 762134 for a catalogue. The charge of £4 per delivery does not reflect the full cost to the firm. See also p 12 Facilities to help vagrants. The Oxford Poverty Action Trust (for "diverted giving" to beggars) is now up and running. Red and blue collecting boxes are to be found in Allders, Blackwell’s, Marks & Spencers, and, according to the City Centre Manager’s January newsletter, three other retail shops and 13 Oxford colleges.
Education. The Oxford Times recently printed a feature "Older & Bolder" mentioning an Age Concern January-February 1999 questionnaire; the National Institute for Continuing Education; U3A (though Oxford branches now have waiting-lists); the National Association of Decorative and Fine
Arts Societies; and the Open College of the Arts. Age Concern Oxfordshire (the Rivermead Centre, Abingdon Road, Tel: 01865 240619) has more information.
Finally, we hope in our next issue to compare the OCG findings with those of a quite different public, "The 5000 People’s Panel". The Cabinet is certainly casting its net wide.
INTENSIVE FOOD
PRODUCTION?
ORGANIC FARMING?
IS THERE A MIDDLE WAY?
An evening debate for farmers, growers and consumers to discuss food and farming issues was organised by the National Farmers’ Union at Agriculture House, Eynsham. Three of us set off from Oxford on a frosty night and arrived just in time to find the small lecture-room almost full, but there were seats for us near the front.
On the platform were four speakers and the chairman, Mary Small from the BBC. Charles Peers of Great Milton, Chairman of the Organic Livestock Marketing Co-operative, spoke first. He farms 400 acres, half of them organic. He told us about some of the many difficulties faced by organic farmers. For example, if an animal is given a mere three treatments with antibiotics it must be removed from the organic herd.
Bill Homewood of Radley described his own 700-acre three-part farm — one part arable, one part pick-your-own (asparagus and strawberries in the summer) and the third part geese and turkeys. He gave us an engrossing account of how such a complicated business is managed, emphasising that the geese and turkeys are free-range. The turkeys are a slow-growing variety, taking about twice as long as those of Bernard Matthew to reach maturity, and ending their days under stress-free conditions.
John Roach, who is Regional Director of NFU’s Central Region, talked about some of the increasing difficulties farmers encounter. For example the number of slaughter houses has been reduced, so that animals suffer the stress of having to travel to a more distant destiny.
Sarah Wild, introduced as an Oxfordshire Consumer, talked about the desire of the public to buy local organic produce (70% is imported).
The debate was opened for questions and discussion. This part of the proceedings revealed more about the immense complexity of the business of farming, and how passionately many people feel about the need for much more organic produce.
Some questioners wanted to know why farmers cannot get together to sell directly to the public. Some answers were that farmers are not good at co-operating, they haven’t got the time, there are so many rules to be obeyed, and land for a sales outlet is expensive.
A member of the audience told us persuasively that cheap food (i.e. non-organic) damages us all; we all pay for it in pollution, damaging chemicals etc. "Discounting meat is discounting welfare".
Several farmers in the audience (probably all farmers everywhere) would prefer organic farming, but for most it is far too difficult and expensive these days. They spoke in favour of the "middle way", which expression explains itself; each farmer does his best (I think all farmers who spoke were men) in different ways to use organic methods as far as possible.
1After giving each speaker a short time to summarise, the chairman called for a vote for or against the "middle way" by a show of hands. There were 55 of us present — a count was not taken but it looked as if "middle way" had fewer votes (though it is hard to imagine any other possible route of advancement).
For the first time since the start of the "Young Consumer of the Year" competition, the venture which OCG has supported from its beginning, Oxfordshire will not be competing. But this is not a permanent dropout. The national organisers are being replaced and the competition revamped. So Trading Standards have decided to give it a miss this year, and to give their time to getting two other projects off the ground. Schools which regularly take part are being asked to use and comment on a new consumer-education package on the Internet.
Meanwhile, a new competition, Consumer Challenge, is to take place in the summer. This is designed specifically for schools for children with special needs, with local heats and a national final like the YCY competition. Getting it off the ground locally will take precious resources, but if it is a success Trading Standards hope to run both competitions next year. OCG will continue to help in any way it can. Until curricula are more consumer-orientated, this is an excellent way of reaching a younger audience.
SOME
DISBENEFITS OF PRIVATISED
TRANSPORT AND TELECOMS COMPANIES
National Express has two agencies in Oxford providing information and ticket sales, in addition to the cramped premises at Gloucester Green. They are: Campus Travel, 105 St Aldate’s, Oxford 242067, and Co-op Travel, 229 Banbury Road, Oxford 316646. But the Gloucester Green office itself can’t be found in The Phone Book.
The National Express display in The Phone Book offers the number 0990-808080 for credit-card booking and enquiries. 0990 calls cost l0p a minute at all times, according to the ad. The Phone Book doesn’t include this number in its list of "charge rates for special codes". The National Express ad also gives a short list of "talking timetable" numbers, but at 49p a minute this looks poor value. A leaflet listing times and prices of coach services, obtainable from the Gloucester Green office, gives 0990-808080 and also 0990-010104 to find your nearest agent; but it doesn’t mention the charge per minute. 0990-010104 produced a "trained answerer" voice that gave the names of Campus and Co-op. but said it was not allowed to give their phone numbers. Why not?
It may be efficient from National Express’s point of view to make the customer do all this phoning round, plus searching the Phone Book, often in vain. But surely the idea of "improved service for the consumer" is to save OUR time, money and energy (not to mention frustration). Why is it considered so important to stop the customer from ringing a local office wherever possible?
At least National Express’s phone lines are either free or engaged; you don’t pay to hear butchered classical music interrupted by voices telling you that all their operators are busy. Not so with railway companies. In the course of a two-hours-plus delayed journey via Nuneaton mentioned on p 6, your reporter left a favourite
back-therapeutic cushion on one of two trains. To try to trace lost property, you need to know (1) the name of the company running the train/s that you travelled on and (2) the destination/s of the train/s. If you were travelling well out of the Oxford area, the relevant rail company/ies are unlikely to be in the local Phone Book (except the overextended Virgin Rail). So you make another call to Directory Enquiries. Now you call the company, explain to the switchboard person that you have a lost-property enquiry (when you get through, something your reporter found very time-consuming with Central Trains, who have a Birmingham number) and wait while you’re turned over to an extension which doesn’t answer. So your call is terminated. When eventually someone does reply, you are given the number of your train’s destination station (which, as with all rail stations, is ex-directory). When this is answered, you may well be told that any lost property has now gone to the depot in another town (number given). For the record, property ending up at Cardiff Central goes to Swansea, while the depot for Poole is at Bournemouth. The cushion, incidentally, had not been handed in
It is hardly surprising that telecommunications companies are star performers on the stock market. Even without the growing sales of mobile phones (much used on delayed trains to explain that the speaker will arrive late), the additional calls that consumers are now forced to make (often long-distance or at premium rates) must keep the profits piling up. Let us hope (and if necessary campaign) for the Oxford Station Travel Centre, when it opens or reopens (who decided to close it, and on what grounds?) TO HAVE A DEDICATED PHONE NUMBER LISTED IN THE PHONE BOOK.
TRACKING DOWN BENEFITS AGENCY LEAFLETS IN OXFORD
A disabled and housebound friend, who was rushed into the Churchill with breathing difficulties late in 1997 for what turned out to be a 12-week stay in hospital, was distressed to receive a claim from the Benefits Agency’s debt-collection unit for £319. This represented ‘overpaid’ benefit for six weeks in hospital. Benefit forms her staple income. It is reduced to £16.20 a week after the first six weeks in hospital.
My friend remembered a social worker at the hospital mentioning possible loss of benefit, but the full implications had not been spelt out to her. The Benefits Agency’s letter stated that if she didn’t appeal within 28 days of the letter’s date (21 December 1998, received by her on 11 January 1999) deductions might be made from her current benefit. A phone call to the Benefits Agency
pointing out the late arrival of the letter produced an extension of the leave-to-appeal period, and I undertook to get copies of the relevant DSS leaflets on ‘Going into Hospital’ and ‘Making an appeal’.
Since I was going to the town centre, the Head Post Office in St Aldate’s seemed a good place to look. However, in its new ‘postal store’ format, the display of DSS leaflets had been removed to the furthest corner from the door (in fact I had to ask an assistant where it was) and is confined to a single wall panel (there are several in the main premises, all featuring services to be purchased). Neither of the two leaflets I sought was available, so I went down to the Benefits Agency at Floyds Row. I couldn’t see what I wanted among the rather sparse selection on the walls, and for all enquiries you have to take a queue ticket and wait to be seen at a counter.
The Central Library does keep a full range of Social Security leaflets in ring binders; you then have to ask at the central service area for the leaflets you want, which have to be fetched from store. Luckily the leaflets I wanted were in stock, and luckily it wasn’t a Wednesday, so the library hadn’t closed at 1 pm. Some doctors’ surgeries have the leaflets in their range, if you can find them. The St Aldate’s Chambers office (opposite the Town Hall) had one of the leaflets on show and was able to find the other.
If you have access to the Internet, the Benefits Agency has a website — but how useful is this to most people on benefit, still less in hospital?
One could criticise the Benefits Agency’s system more radically: going into hospital doesn’t necessarily produce a sharp drop in expenses of feeding one’s household, heating one’s home etc; and for private fee-paying patients there is no similar reduction of allowances. But the immediate point is the difficulty of getting information, which seems unfairly weighted against the most needy.
OXFORD RAILWAY STATION (continued)
"Planned major improvements" to Oxford Railway Station were featured (not without criticism) in our Autumn 1998 number; among the leaflets in the station racks is now one from Railtrack announcing that "enhancement works" there are now complete. Actually a pedestrian crossing was still being laid on January 8, when your reporter was taking a look around, but the station forecourt was mainly in working order.
The new car park between Becket Street and the railway lines offers a safe route over its new footbridge to the main station building. Parking charges are £2.30 for a day (£1 after 4.30 pm and on Sundays and Bank Holidays); season-ticket holders pay from £11.50 per week to £414 per year. The footbridge also offers a safe way to the cycle-parking area, which has a much better layout with easier access between shorter rows of bike stands, and yet seems to have more spaces. There are ramps on either side of the central steps up to the station, with a raised pedestrian crossing over the four traffic lanes (notices declare pedestrians have priority, but there are no lights. Is this effectively safe?). Traffic, as before, goes in a one-way ellipse, with a two-way ramp up to the Parcels Office and the main set-down parking area; there are six disabled spaces nearest to the platform and the passenger lift. This part of the forecourt (stations, it seems, no longer have anything so plebeian as a ‘yard’) is not shown in the picture featured on p7 of our Autumn issue.
The fully-grown trees in the picture also obscure the fact that within the perimeter in/out road, two long islands define a two-way, two-lane space down the middle. This middle space provides bus-stop spaces for tour buses on the ‘in’ side and set-down spaces along the ‘out’ side. Taxi spaces are in the outermost lane and also on the further side of the innermost lane. Nearest to the station are bus stops and shelters each side of the central pedestrian crossing, serving the 52 Cowley Road service and the 2C/D service to Kidlington (half hourly on weekdays, hourly on Saturdays and never on Sundays). So North Oxford residents, and Kidlington ones if they are lucky, can reach the station without changing buses; Headington and Iffley Road dwellers can use Park & Ride buses (Thornhill to Seacourt) and the 4/A/B/C services (Rose Hill to Botley and Cumnor), which stop m Park End Street near the station entrance.
The promised ‘Travel Shop’ had not yet appeared in January, and builders had taken over the platform side of the station concourse, so that the only loos were those on Platform 2 (open 5.00 -23.30). The Cadbury’s chocolate machine on Platform 1 was out of order, but there is a new snack shop’ on the concourse called ‘Stopgap’. Here you can buy cold soft drinks, confectionery and crisps, sandwiches and savoury pasties and sausage rolls — the pastry items can be heated on request. ‘Stopgap’ is run by the same people as the ‘Upper Crust’ refreshment bar, which offers hot and cold food (burgers, filled batons, sandwiches and cakes) and hot and cold drinks, including alcoholic ones. Both places are open from 6.30 to 21.00 hours Monday to Saturday, and from 8.00 to
21.00 on Sunday. The AMT Espresso bar (coffees, including several flavours, teas, cold drinks and a limited selection of cake lines) is now bigger, and sited among the fixed tables with seats. It is open from 5.30 to 22.00 Monday to Friday, and from 7.00 on Saturday and 7.30 on Sunday. These extended hours had not in January affected the cheerless buffet on Platform 2; tough on travellers to Birmingham and the North, who have also the added frustration of longer waits for delayed Virgin trains. (But it’s better than on Nuneaton station, where facilities are spread over five different platforms).
It was not possible in January to find out opening times for the W. H. Smith shop, as it was closed, with no opening-times notice visible. The Guide Friday shop and Jason’s Flowers seem to keep normal shop hours — well, an open-top bus tour in the dark wouldn’t be much fun, would it?
How to choose your gas and electricity supplier in Oxfordshire
When the Electricity and Gas Boards were privatised the new companies were given monopoly powers of supply. In the last three years a great deal of money has been spent to make it possible for domestic users to have a choice of suppliers of electricity and gas. In Oxfordshire the market for gas has already been opened up to competition, and the domestic electricity market will be opened up in March 1999.
So far, not many of us have changed our suppliers. These pages are designed to help you to decide whether or not to change.
The Oxford Consumer Group does not recommend any particular supplier to suit your needs. You must make your own choice, and you do not have to change your supplier. What we can say is that:
Changing suppliers is easy. You keep the same meters, and the pipes and wires coming into your home stay the same as now. All that changes is the company which sends you your bins, and how much you pay for your electricity and gas.
For average users, in most cases the original supplier is more expensive than new entrants to the market, but the savings you may make if you change will probably be less than those forecast in the glossy leaflets and advertisements.
When the market settles down all the current prices may change. If you change your supplier you can change again, as often as you like, provided you give notice. The period of notice is usually a month, but it may be as long as a year.
You may get a discount if you take both gas and electricity from the same supplier. This does not mean that your combined bill will always be less than the total bill from two cheaper suppliers.
Choosing a new supplier
There are some rather complicated looking tables in the pages which follow. Each table shows you the prices which companies willing to supply households in Oxfordshire will charge for electricity and gas (Standing Charges and Unit Rates). If you know how much electricity and gas you use you can work out the amount each company would charge you in a year.
The tables also contain columns showing what it would cost, for different levels of use, to take a supply of electricity or gas from each of the suppliers listed in the table. All you have to do is choose the column which most nearly matches your level of use.
The tables show the total costs for either the Standard (Quarterly Credit) or the (Monthly) Direct Debit form of payment. Your bills will always be smaller if you decide to pay by Direct
Debit. Whichever method you use, keep all your bills for a year or so. You will get the best deal if you know more about how much electricity and gas you use than the supplier does.
If you decide to use the Standard method of payment, make sure you take advantage of any reductions for "prompt payment" of your quarterly bills by cash or cheque. This usually means that the company expects to receive your payment no more than two weeks from the date shown on the bill.
Making the change
If you decide to change, get an up-to-date statement of prices, periods of notice and other conditions from possible new suppliers (see next page for telephone numbers). You will be asked to sign a legally-binding contract. These contracts have been scrutinised by the industry regulators, OFFER and OFGAS, and are unlikely to be unfair to you. Perhaps the most important variable, apart from price, is the length of notice required for you to end the contract. Our view is that 28 days is fair to both sides.
Your new supplier will need to know:
Once you have signed the contract your new supplier will arrange the changeover with your existing supplier, including meter reading. If you have been paying by standing order, cancel the instruction to your bank before you receive your final bill from the existing supplier. If you pay by direct debit, check to ensure that the existing supplier does not continue to take money from your account after you have paid the final bill.
Although the electricity and gas will be the same whichever company you choose for supply, the service given you may not be the same. If at any time you are dissatisfied with the service given by your supplier do not hesitate to say so. Tell the company first. If that doesn’t work, contact the local Electricity or Gas Consumer Committee, or your Trading Standards Department.
OFFICE OF ELECTRICITY REGULATION
30/31 Friar Street, Reading RG1 1DX
Freephone 0800 451 451
or, for complaints, (0118) 956 0211
GAS CONSUMERS COUNCIL
Roddis House, Old Christchurch Road,
Bournemouth (01202) 556654
OXFORDSHIRE TRADING STANDARDS
P0 Box 618, County Hall, New Road, Oxford
OX1 1DX (01865) 815000
Using the tables
Some suppliers (and some tariffs) are cheaper for householders who use small amounts of electricity or gas. Some are cheaper for large users. Some appear (at the moment) to be cheaper across the board. In the tables we have highlighted the suppliers whose total charges, including VAT, are in the lowest quartile of the range of costs for each level of use (if the costs range from £200 to £300, we have highlighted those between £200 and £225).
To compare costs, choose the level of use which most nearly matches that for your household. On both electricity and gas bins your quarterly consumption is shown as ‘kilowatt hours’ (kWh). Gas bills sometimes also show your consumption in Units, if that is what is displayed on your meter. There will be seasonal differences in your use of both electricity and gas, so you need bills for four consecutive quarters to decide on your annual consumption. Your existing supplier will tell you how much you use in a year if you ring the Bill Enquiries number on your quarterly statement.
You could also use past bills to total up how much you have paid for electricity and gas over the last year. If you don’t have past bills, work out from your cheque book or bank statements how much you have paid.
To use the tables,
a) choose a column for a level of use nearest to your own annual kWh or Unit figure, or
b) choose the row for your existing supplier (Southern Electric for electricity) and in that row choose the column for a total cost which is nearest to your own annual payments. Either way, the column you have chosen win list the total charges made by all the companies in the table for that level of use.
Comparing prices is a little more difficult if you have a ‘two-rate’ (White) electricity meter (or both an off-peak meter and a daytime meter). The tariffs shown are for ‘Economy 7’ supplies, giving you seven hours of electricity at a lower price off-peak. Domestic customers use Economy 7 supplies in different ways, so we can’t give you a single cost figure. Over the year as a whole, average customers who use an Economy 7 supply for space heating are likely to take only just over half their supply off-peak rather than in the rest of the day. Including a standing charge, their bin for power is likely to be twice as much for daytime supplies as for off-peak supplies, so most people need compare only the daytime charges to choose between suppliers. In the ‘Two-rate’ tables we have highlighted the total daytime costs (including the standing charge) which fall into the lowest quartile for each level of daytime use.
For those of you who would like to compare the costs of both your daytime and your off-peak supplies, we have also included a row for levels of use off-peak. You should
a) choose the column closest to your daytime consumption and note the charges for that. Then
b) choose a (probably different) column closest to your off-peak consumption and note the charges for that. Then
c) Add the two charges together to get the total ‘Two-rate’ charge for each supplier. There are some variations on the Economy 7 tariff which we have not shown in these tables.
If you use gas as well as electricity you may benefit from a Dual Fuel discount. This is likely to be a lump sum deducted from your gas account annually, or a lower standing charge. We have shown the annual value of this in the tables for gas, and you should take this away from the total of your electricity and gas bins if you propose to use the same supplier for both.
Dear Katy,
We have just finished a jar of marmalade, purchased from our ‘corner shop’ in North Parade for £1.52.
The label is printed: Frank Cooper’s Oxford ORIGINAL OXFORD MARMALADE Coarse Cut Seville Orange.
It cannot be ‘original’ because Mrs Sarah Cooper would not have had the equipment to make it like this one. It is certainly not ‘Coarse Cut Seville Orange’. It did not contain one piece of orange. The whole jar was just a uniformly thick jelly.
Have you heard of any one else having this experience? Should one write to the Advertising Standards? Or the makers?
It was certainly not like I remember Oxford Marmalade.
Yours sincerely,
Joan Howlett
— The right order for complaints is (1) the retailer, (2) the manufacturer, (3) Advertising Standards, 2-16 Torrington Place, London WC1E 7HN. In January The Guardian compared a home-made marmalade with nine commercial ones. The Frank Cooper (priced by The Guardian at £1.45) was described as a "bitter disappointment. Taste fades like dew in the morning sun. Goodish peel chunks but few and far between."
Dear Katy,
Perhaps in response to complaints about cycle lanes along pavements, the Highways Committee is proposing more on-road cycle lanes which have to pass to the offside of on-road car-parking spaces. However, from long experience as a cyclist, I find that:
Where part of the road is simply turned into parking spaces, cycles are forced into the middle of a narrowed road-space, the more because they must allow for opened car-doors. Where there are parking spaces carved out on the other side of the road as well, there isn’t always adequate room for cyclists and moving cars, vans or buses.
Where lengths of parking-bay are created from pavement (as in London Road, Headington) cyclists still have to allow for suddenly-opened car-doors, so are still forced further into the road than they would like.
Motorists frequently park their cars so as to overshoot the end of a line of spaces. I have come across this in London Road, Headington, and also in Cowley Road outside the Philosopher & Firkin, where cars cover the cycle lane out of Magdalen Road. This forces cyclists to make a sharp turn out into the Cowley Road, outside the parked-on cycle lane. This happens mainly after dark. I think it should be a rule that no parking spaces end less than two car-lengths before a road junction. And traffic wardens should keep a beady eye open for infringements at these points — but apparently
wardens are instructed to work only in the city centre at nights!
Yours, friendly,
Patricia Wright
To Dyson Appliances Ltd
Dear Sirs,
Now that the Christmas rush is over I want to write to say what excellent attention for a remarkably low price we received when my Dyson DCO1 was serviced recently.
As promised, the machine was collected at a time that was agreed and was returned to our door within three days. The work that I notified you was needed was done and parts replaced, plus others that I had not realised were either outdated or worn out. All this was within the comprehensive service charge of £35 — superb value!
I am so impressed that I am sending a note about this to the editor of our local Consumer Group magazine, as comments either favourable or (more commonly these days) unfavourable are welcomed there.
Thank you again for excellent service which was promptly carried out at a very reasonable inclusive charge. All dealings were carried out courteously and efficiently.
With all best wishes for continued success in 1999,
Yours faithfully,
(Lady) Patsy Yardley
POINTS FROM OTHER LETTERS
A purchase of goods at Tesco’s was firmly stated to contain a specified weight, but in fact held far less: packeted "Easy Blend" dried yeast, each sachet alleged to contain 6g, but when weighed found to contain approx 1g (in a sealed metallic foil container). The complainant received a £10 voucher from Tesco’s.
— Fred’s Discount Store, at 185 Cowley Road (Tesco’s side, between Chapel Street and East Avenue), is an Aladdin’s Cave shop which offers the usual range of small discount-store goods: housewares, DIY tools, fasteners, sewing aids etc, and also a key-cutting service. Recently I needed a spare key for my cycle padlock. This seemed difficult to match, but the assistant found a possible blank, cut a copy of my key, and then suggested I took it out to my locked cycle to try. The copy was too thick, so she hunted further and cut two more keys from different blanks; on trying them, I found that one fitted and one didn’t. But I was charged only the cost of one key (£1.75) and the assistant apologised for taking so long! Fred’s was commended in an issue many years ago for its cheap shears/scissors sharpening service, which is still available.
— A brave new small shop has recently opened in what remains of a small shopping parade at the bottom of Islip Road, Sunnymeade, North Oxford. The GOURMET GREEN GROCER at no 97 is all-organic, with a good range of fruit and vegetables, some at prices not too much above other green-grocers at this time of year. Meat is ordered from Graig Farm in mid-Wales, and the dairy products are good. The groceries are not cheap, but interesting olive oils, soups and biscuits, for example, make unusual presents. They are opposite Sunnymeade Post Office, there is easy parking and they run a delivery service (tel 558778). But trade is quiet so far: I wish them a lot of luck; they will need it.
Elizabeth Stamp
"Why didn’t I vote?" asked our December magazine, launching its "New Ideas to Encourage Voting" questionnaire. OCG’s answer was "But I did!" Out of 56 replies, only one admitted to, or boasted of, not having voted in the 1997 national elections. Only 12, generally for good reasons, had not voted in the 1998 local elections.
Our questionnaire, it will be remembered, was a revamp of one rather timidly put out (in the Town Hall foyer) by the Council itself. They, and therefore we, asked for respondents’ age, occupation and postcode area (though not for name, sex or full address). "Clearly," we said in December, "the Council wanted to know about big groups of people" and perhaps about wards. "I thought people could be identified by their postcodes?" protested one response. "Or at least that they must be one of very few people with that code?" It depends. It may well be so, if you live outside town and with a house-name but not a house-number. On the other hand, the Editor shares her postcode with about 80 residents in Granville Court. Between these extremes, a postcode runs over a number of adjacent houses which may vary from 5 to 40; if other details about a person are known, a guess at identity is possible, but that is all.
We are certainly not a representative sample; we are self-selected, perhaps biased, evidently socially and/or politically conscious; but so, very possibly, were those who visited the Town Hall in August or September, saw the box for replies and did something about it. We (at least our 56 respondents) are elderly: all but 5 said they were over 50, all but another 7 over 65. 39 described themselves as retired, though a further 8 as retired but active"; the occupations of the others included teaching, librarianship, writing, publishing, editing, researching, accounting, local administration.
"We are interested," said the Council, obviously worried about low turn-out, "in your reasons for voting or not voting in the local elections this year." Reasons for voting were obvious: feelings of duty or loyalty, importance of the issues, "if you don’t vote you cannot complain", or, as one response interestingly said, "I know the candidates and can make an informed choice." Reasons for not voting were: no election in area, 7; absence from home, 2; "habitually I haven’t," 2; "not much point" (unexpanded), 1.
Listing its nine "new ideas to encourage voting", the Council simply invited respondents to "underline the ones that would make you more likely to vote", though it did invite "any ideas of your own." We asked, "What do you feel about any (of the nine ideas)?" and our processor made life difficult for herself by trying to grade the "feelings" on a scale of 5, 4 points for strong support, 3 for milder support, 2 for neutrality, 1 for mild opposition, 0 for stronger opposition. Some allowance will have to be made for error in weighting of borderline responses; but, generally speaking, to win unanimous strong support an "idea" would have needed 56 x 4 = 224 points. 168 points would signify an overall mild vote for, 112 complete neutrality, 56 an overall mild vote against. Here are the results:
The preferred idea (about 140 points, short of "mildness" but well above neutrality) was voting by post (retention and/or extension): "this should be easier; often I can’t vote because I am temporarily from home." (But there were warnings: "too cumbersome", "it could too easily be abused", "would not attract the hard core".) Next (about 130 points) came voting on Saturdays; though 5 responses were strongly against extending that to Sundays, with 1 strongly for.
About voting in supermarkets, respondents were almost neutral (110 points); just a few more preferred voting in shopping centres (116 points). "Good idea, but should also be in village centres etc for those without cars." But "the essential desiderata would be (a) privacy, (b) prevention of vote-early-vote-often, (c) convenience. I fear that stations and supermarkets would be vulnerable to intimidation and impersonation." "This is turning the whole exercise into a kind of survey. It should be more."
Curiously, the very different idea of voting for a directly-elected Mayor who will run the Council achieved almost the same balance of fors and agalnsts (114 points). "In favour — more democratic and fair"; "possibly — it works well in France, as far as I can see"; "yes, for a trial period of five years"; "OK if sufficient information on candidates available first." But "too risky"; "reduces democratic control"; "enough ego-trippers in politics as it is"; "not keen — democracy which includes views of ward-based Councillors is much better than government by a single person and his or her appointees."
Coming down below the halfway mark were having polling stations open for more than one day (100 points) and having them at train or bus stations (80 points). Main reasons for objection were the likely burden on staff, especially volunteers, and the risk of distraction and hurry; train and bus stations are "too chaotic already!"
Still lower came the ideas of voting by phone (76 points) and voting by Internet or digital TV (73 points); "too easy to fake ... risk to secrecy ... lines would be cluttered ... too limited access" summed up the objections. Lowest of all came the idea of polling stations open for 24 hours (66 points): "waste of taxpayers’ money". Even these three ideas, however, received some support from those wining to try anything that will help.
As is usual with OCG members, independent ideas came in abundance.
"If it works, why fix it?"
"Women of my generation are still too conscious of the struggle for the right to vote ever to miss. However, sometimes one is against all the candidates, and I have on occasion returned a blank form. I think these ought to be counted and the numbers published, not deemed spoiled."
"Local voting needs a complete reform of wards, numbers of councillors, powers etc." "I think local councillors should be independent of party."
"Employers should be obliged to allow staff time off to vote. Many workers are unable to vote due to excessively long working hours or working away from home." "More needs to be done to improve access for physically-disadvantaged voters." "I have a deep concern about proxy voting (not mentioned here). It must, if available, express the sick or absent voter’s conviction only. It is open to abuse."
"Perhaps more publicity and civic education in schools might improve the numbers voting in the future." "Efforts should be concentrated on propaganda, eg in schools, public offices, doctors’ surgeries etc rather than on providing more methods of voting."
"The first-past-the-post system seems to me a great disincentive to voting... A change to some form of proportional representation would make more difference than anything explicitly mentioned in the questionnaire."
"I think the problem is deeper than how or where one votes. People are discouraged about politics." "I feel most politicians are useless ... I wouldn’t employ most of them." "The mass of the people would vote for someone who was more than a name to them." "I would vote for any candidate who held a meeting and showed himself to his constituents, answering questions." "People don’t vote because they believe they have no influence. If they could frame their own motions and get them voted on with binding decisions if there was a majority, they would have influence."
4 respondents would support compulsory voting; but another retorted, "Anyone has a right not to vote and not to say whether he or she voted or not."
It was because OCG’s editorial board had doubts of its own that we added our own question: "Did you find this questionnaire helpful? democratic? harmless? silly? offensive?" 20 thought it helpful; 7 more, only with reservations; 4 said NO. 27 thought it democratic; 2 more, only with reservations; 3 said NO, one of them very definitely; "could only be so if sent to every elector in Oxon." 21 thought it harmless; 3 more, only with reservations; 1 called it "waste of ratepayers’ money". 4 thought it silly: "extremely", "poorly designed"; and 3 (besides the one troubled about postcodes) thought it offensive: "I would prefer age-range rather than age", "could be thought impertinent", "could be misuse of council funds for what looks like a party electoral exercise."
Some responses asked, perhaps bitterly, whether our survey would be of any use to anybody:
"helpful for whom? not for me"; "to the editor. I hope!" "I doubt it will prove anything!" "Too many questionnaires, too many surveys. It has become an epidemic!" But, as we said in December, "The Council may be interested in our readers’ views, even though several months late."
"The importance of the village shop has been recognised," we hear, "by the County and District Councils in Oxfordshire." With the Rural Development Commission they have "put together a partnership" to give grants to shops (this year in North, South and East Oxfordshire) to improve their premises and services.
"Village Shops are changing, or many are, to serve the needs of today’s customers," writes Jane Gilbert, Community Development Worker,Oxfordshire Rural Community Council. "They are opening in the evening and/or offering home delivery services" (for instance in Combe and Stadhampton) "in response to changing working patterns. They are evolving into a convenient, complementary service, with quality products, competitive pricing and good service.
Village Shops offer the personal contact you will never get from a supermarket. The shopkeeper is often able to order products you want quickly and meet your specific needs. This flexibility and personal service can be very valuable.
From an environmental point of view, they also reduce your mileage and therefore fuel consumption and traffic congestion.
Viliage Shops in Oxfordshire are also working together through the Village Shops Associations to improve their businesses; learning from each other, training and learning about new products," such as convenience foods. Here Jane mentions particularly Wytham and Nuneham Courtenay.
Jane can be contacted about vinage shops in your area, or any support they can receive, at Jericho Farm, Worton, Witney, 0X8 lEB. Tel: 01865 883488 (e-mail — oxonrcc@ruralnet.org.uk). OCG has often expressed its concern that supermarkets might disadvantage local shops. The Editor will be glad to hear about shops in your area.
In our Winter 1997 issue we reported that "The Office of Fair Trading has launched an investigation into whether the UK’s half-million care-home residents are getting a fair deal". It seems to have taken longer than expected; but the OFT now says that their "survey findings confirmed the inquiry team’s fears".
"Only half of the respondents, or their relatives, had received any written information before moving into a care home; most residents either did not have a choice about the particular home they entered, or did not consider any other home. Only one in five considered one other care home... often because a decision had to be made quickly.
"An OFT analysis of 155 care-home brochures revealed that only one carried any information about charges made for extras such as outings, hairdressing and chiropody. Fee levels were mentioned in less than a third of the brochures...
The Residential Care Homes Regulations 1984
require care-homes in England and Wales to have an internal complaints procedure and to ensure residents are made aware of it... Only 17% of care-home brochures described such a procedure...
In some cases, residents were without written contracts... The majority of those who had signed a contract did not know or could not remember what the terms of the agreement were...
The OFT is making ten recommendations. Meanwhile, says the OFT, "a Royal Commission has been charged with examining funding of long-term care for the elderly, the Department of Health is looking at national standards, and a Government White Paper on Social Services in England is due later this year..."
We recall also that many concerns on this subject, including OCG’s own, have gone up to the Cabinet Office in response to its "Better Government for Older People" initiative.
ONE WAY TO SAVE MONEY ON PHONE BILLS
Do you know about Telco? This is Telco Global Communications Ltd, one of the new companies which compete with BT. A Committee member has heard about it from her long-standing financial adviser, who says it really works, at least for short calls. Telco says you can save a third of the cost of a UK call, and up to two-thirds on an overseas call.
It has its own London "innovative new switching centre" with "the latest telecommunications technology". If you join, there’s no initial charge, and you don’t need to change your telephone number or get any new equipment. But Telco’s charging system is different from BT’s, using smaller units (6 seconds after the first 30 seconds), and its dialling system is slightly different.
Provided you’re registered with Telco: if you want to phone any UK number and expect your call to be a short one, or if you want to phone abroad, you just dial 1696 and then what you would have normally dialled. For UK calls the
charge was in December 5.3p per minute at peak times, 2.9p off-peak, 2.’lp at weekends; for overseas calls, similarly lower than BT’s charges. They admit that if you expect to make a longer UK call and/or win benefit from a BT promotion or discount, it will pay you not to dial 1696. But you can please yourself for any call — you won’t be tied to Telco for all your calls, as you might be tied to another company.
You can have a Connectcard. You can pay monthiy or in advance, by cheque, credit card or direct debit as you prefer. You can use your mobile phone, cable or other operators’ lines; only that win mean dialling an extra 11 figures, not just 4, which you may feel is a bit much. And they do make a surcharge for calls from public payphones or operator-connected, since they themselves have to pay the BT charge.
For further information write to Telco, The Grange, 100 High Street, London N14 6TG, or to Brenda Seel, 37 Holyoake Walk, London WS 1QN.
In an article "The Rights Approach to the Millennium timebomb" in the Consumer Congress December newsletter, Jackie Hewitt, a lawyer working for the Consumers’ Association, takes up where we left off in our Summer and Autumn issues. As we did, she stresses that "every system that may be affected must be checked" and that consumers should keep their own records. But she says more than even Which? (Nov 1977 and Jan 1998) did about legal remedies.
"It seems consumers may well have to rely on existing consumer rights legislation...
The Sale of Goods Act 1979 (as amended by the Sale and Supply of Goods Act 1994) implies into every contract for the sale of goods a requirement that they must be of satisfactory quality and fit for the purpose... If a personal computer fails to work properly after 1 January 2000 due to the millennium bug, there win be a claim against the retailer for breach of contract... These statutory rights cannot be excluded by the retailer..."
But buyers with complaints mustn’t wait too long. "What is reasonable in terms of durability win differ according to the type of product. Another problem in obtaining redress ... is the time limit on making claims: in England and Wales, six years from the date of purchase."
Alternatively, "failure to take account of the year-2000-problem resulting in poor or disrupted
service would amount to a lack of the reasonable skill and care required under the Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982; for example, if a firm of solicitors missed the date for completion of a house purchase... Many of the areas of most concern to consumers, such as domestic services like gas or financial services, are also based on contract, so that consumers win have the same statutory implied right to a reasonable standard of service...
Some services, such as NHS treatment, are not supplied on a contractual basis. In these cases there may still be a valid claim under the law of negligence, if loss or injury results from a millennium computer bug failure. However, these claims are notoriously complicated without the added difficulty of proving faulty equipment...
The Association of British Insurers says that insurance is meant to protect against the unforeseen and unpredictable, and that the millennium is neither of these. But it admits that some of the consequences of the millennium bug are not foreseeable or predictable and so are insurable. What is covered win depend on the individual insurance policy... Consumers faced with a refusal to pay, based on a get-out clause, may wish to refer it to the Insurance Ombudsman Scheme, if the insurance company is a member, as the interpretation of the clause can be crucial..."
Good luck!
In the same newsletter the Consumer Congress reminds us of this year’s changes to telephone codes. "New area codes and new local numbers win be introduced in six areas — Cardiff, Coventry, London, Northern Ireland, Portsmouth and Southampton. In these areas the old 0lxx or 01 xxx code will be replaced with a three-digit one starting 02, followed by an eight-digit local number. For example, London’s 0171 and 0181 codes will change to 020, followed respectively by 7xxx xxxx and 8xxx xxxx. Portsmouth’s 01705 win become 023 followed by 80xx xxxx.
Both the existing codes and the new ones will work from June 1 1999 until April 22 2000, when only the new numbers win work..."
I phoned National Train Enquiries, 0345 48 49 50. Pete (the name has been changed): This is Pete.
How can I help you?
Me: Please can you give me the day return fare from Oxford to Vauxhall including the Underground? And can I buy one return ticket for the journey as in the days of British Rail?
Pete: How do you spell Vauxhall?
Me: V-a-u-x-h-a-l-l.
Pete: Where is it?
Me: Across the river.
Pete: Which river?
Me: Thames. Where am I calling? I thought you were in London.
Pete: I’m new on the job. Please excuse my ignorance. This is Plymouth. Calls are put through to various centres around the country as lines are
available. I’ll go and find out the answer to your query ... You go to Paddington and take the Bakerloo line to Waterloo. Come up into the mainline station and there are frequent trains to Vauxhall. You cannot buy one ticket for the journey, but will have to buy three.
Me: Thank you, but I don’t go that way. I take the Bakerloo underground and then change onto the Victoria line straight to Vauxhall. Thank you anyway
Me (next day at Oxford Railway Station): Can I buy a day return ticket through to Vauxhall, ie to Paddington and then including the Underground?
Ticket seller: Yes.
For train times I refer to the full annual GB Passenger Railway timetable which I buy twice a year. It’s safer