Even cyclists are asking for number plates

[Mrcheerful]

http://www.thewestmorlandgazette.co.uk/news/13788882.LETTER__Do_bicycles_need_number_plates_/

[Bret Cahill]

http://www.thewestmorlandgazette.co.uk/news/13788882.LETTER__Do_bicycles_need_number_plates_/

Do it on a voluntary basis, kind of like those ID tags used by employees in a lot of industries so the public knows the unknown guy is accountable. Maybe 0.25% of the public bothers to pull out a smart device and check. Has anyone heard of any crimes committed by someone with a fake ID? It could be happening and just not be getting reported.

Some businesses require their reps to drive but it's mostly because vehicles have tags. As it is now if a rep wants to cycle he has to park his bicycle several blocks away and then, if asked, mumble something like "the last job was around the corner and it was easier to just walk."

This response is not risk free on short trips but it isn't a worry on longer trips. No one is going to believe you cycled 40 miles, changed into dress clothes under a bridge, did the job, changed back into Lycra and the cycled back home.

One purely academic ethical question:

Is was wrong to claim mileage when you're cycling instead of driving? Consider wear and tear on the bicycle, high carb diet, etc.

[JNugent]

There is a school of thought which accepts both of those as factors.

The diet one is decidedly dodgy, though. Every worker expends energy.
It's part of being a worker and doing work, for which normal pay/salary
is the consideration. If the cost of food for a cyclist doing official
travel was valid (I say it isn't), manual workers who do very heavy work
would have a much better claim on "expenses" just for doing their normal
job.

The wear and tear argument is much more of a sound basis for the payment
of expenses, subject to a fixed limit (just as applies with motor
vehicles, even if the employee uses a vintage Bentley).

[Alycidon]

On Monday, 5 October 2015 04:18:09 UTC+1, Bret Cahill wrote:

> One purely academic ethical question:
>
> Is was wrong to claim mileage when you're cycling instead of driving? Consider wear and tear on the bicycle, high carb diet, etc.

QUOTE:

"Mileage allowances.

Reimburse your cyclists for using their bikes on company business. The allowance should be on a pence-per-mile basis and ideally match the rate offered for using the smallest cc car - say 35 pence per mile."

https://intranet.birmingham.ac.uk/collaboration/cycling/other-resources/commuting/health/EmployersGuide.aspx

[JNugent]

Says who?

[Bret Cahill]

> > One purely academic ethical question:
> >
> > Is was wrong to claim mileage when you're cycling instead of driving? Consider wear and tear on the bicycle, high carb diet, etc.
>
> QUOTE:
>
> "Mileage allowances.
>
> Reimburse your cyclists for using their bikes on company business. The allowance should be on a pence-per-mile basis and ideally match the rate offered for using the smallest cc car - say 35 pence per mile."
>
> https://intranet.birmingham.ac.uk/collaboration/cycling/other-resources/commuting/health/EmployersGuide.aspx

Thanks. I'll forward that to an acquaintance who claimed otherwise.


Bret Cahill

[JNugent]

Be aware that it is far from being in any sense "official".

HMRC would regard such a rate as engendering a profit and would tax it.

[David Lang]

OMG! Don't mention paying tax to a cyclist! He'll have a conniption fit!

[Ian Smith]

On Mon, 5 Oct 2015 05:30:52 -0700 (PDT), Alycidon <swld...@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Monday, 5 October 2015 04:18:09 UTC+1, Bret Cahill wrote:
>
> > One purely academic ethical question:
> >
> > Is was wrong to claim mileage when you're cycling instead of
> > driving? Consider wear and tear on the bicycle, high carb diet,
> > etc.
>
> QUOTE:
>
> "Mileage allowances.
>
> Reimburse your cyclists for using their bikes on company business.
> The allowance should be on a pence-per-mile basis and ideally match
> the rate offered for using the smallest cc car - say 35 pence per
> mile."

If you do that it will be a taxable benefit. The HMRC limit for
cycling is 20p/mile.

regards, Ian SMith
--
|\ /| no .sig
|o o|
|/ \|

[Alycidon]

The long arm of the HRMC does not extend to Bret's neck of the woods in SW USA.

[Bret Cahill]

> > > > One purely academic ethical question:
> > > >
> > > > Is was wrong to claim mileage when you're cycling instead of
> > > > driving? Consider wear and tear on the bicycle, high carb diet,
> > > > etc.
> > >
> > > QUOTE:
> > >
> > > "Mileage allowances.
> > >
> > > Reimburse your cyclists for using their bikes on company business.
> > > The allowance should be on a pence-per-mile basis and ideally match
> > > the rate offered for using the smallest cc car - say 35 pence per
> > > mile."
> >
> > If you do that it will be a taxable benefit. The HMRC limit for
> > cycling is 20p/mile.
>
> The long arm of the HRMC does not extend to Bret's neck of the woods in SW USA.

Not that I was considering paying back the paltry sum -- as a compliant employee I obediently follow regulations after about a dozen or so warnings -- but your link really helped establish [in the U.S.] that it was ok for cyclists to charge vehicle miles.

With some folks in the U.S. if you do something a little "off trail" it's not ok. If a major UK or EU entity says the exact same thing is ok, then, with those same Americans, it's suddenly ok.

There's certainly a PR deficit somewhere.


Bret Cahill

[Alycidon]

There are always people who dislike our elected MPs claiming ANYTHING at all.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2581863/Taken-ride-How-freewheeling-freeloading-MPs-claim-20p-mile-expenses-riding-BIKES.html

Wafting around in big limos for a few 100 yards is OK of course, but claiming for cycling? Terrible.

[Ian Smith]

The quote was from Birmingham University. I believe that HMRC does
cover Birmingham.

But you know this, since you posted the quote.