London, July 4 (ANI): Two carpenters travelled from Birmingham to the Bangor area of North Wales to fix the door of a cupboard, but left without fixing it.
In what is being seen as another example of public waste, a workman and a painter made the 600 mile round trip, with an overnight stay, just to fit safety catches and new glass in a window.
According to the probation union Napo, the centralised privatisation of maintenance contracts is to blame for this waste of tax payers money.
According to The Telegraph, Monday's report reveals that little has changed with the union claiming they have unearthed dozens more examples in the last year alone.
Napo claims the problems around maintenance in the probation service stems from the fact any job has to be processed through centralised offices and then given to private contractors. Prior to that system, the probation service would look for local companies to solve problems.
In one example, Napo claims a painter drove almost 200 miles from Manchester to Cardiff to a decorating job, and got their too late to start work so stayed overnight. One workman is also said to have driven more than 300 miles from Newcastle to Gwent to help fit safety catches and safety glass in a property before making the five and a half-hour journey back.
The union claims workers also regularly drive 35 miles between Bristol and Gloucester just to change fluorescent light bulbs.
Napo said such incidents are increasingly common in London, Birmingham, Liverpool and Manchester.
A Ministry of Justice spokesman said: "The facilities contracts used to maintain the probation and other government department's estates were competitively tendered and have so far saved the probation estate 18 million pounds. (ANI)
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