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GMB WELCOMES NEW
REPORT CALLING FOR PARLIAMENT TO ACT TO LOWER PUB RENTS TO STOP
LOCAL PUBS CLOSING
"WE need Parliament to
legislate the option to allow tenants to buy products on the open
market and pay a fair rent for the building!" says GMB.
GMB, the union for tied pub
tenants, welcomed a new report by the Fair Deal for Your Local
Campaign setting out why Parliament should introduce the proposed
statutory code of practice enabling tenants to buy products on the
open market and to pay a fair rent for the building.
Steve Kemp, GMB officer for tied
pub tenants, said:- "Fair Deal for Your Local Campaign has put
together all the key point as to why Parliament should legislate the
proposed statutory code of practice to enable tenants to buy
products on the open market and to pay a fair rent for the building.
The report well and truly destroys any deliberate misinterpretation
of the true facts behind the pubco version of the tied model and its
habitual abuse. No one who reads this comprehensive document,
using data and information from the pubco's own figures, can fail to
be persuaded that a market rent only option is the only choice that
can be made. GMB welcome this report in the hope that it
forces the Conservative Party to recognise the importance of open
markets for consumers and the need for a speedy response to this
issue to stop even more pubs closing. Highly indebted property
companies own over half of Britain's pubs. These charge sky high
rents to tied tenants of pubs pay interest on massive financially
engineered debts. These debts are held mainly by bondholders in
offshore tax havens. Interest payments on these huge debts
have to be paid each week before the tenant pours a pint and
regardless of whether s/he can make ends meet or not. To pay
these sky high rents a pint of lager is on average 80p per pint
higher and ale is 65p per pint higher than justified by inflation
and like for like changes in taxes since 1987. This is pricing
pubs out of the market and they have closed in droves. BIS has
promised that Parliament will legislate a free of tie option with
tenants able to buy products on the open market and pay a fair rent
for the building. The aim is to lower sky high rents charged by
pubcos. The Government's verdict should be available soon
following the widespread consultation on the draft statutory code.
We need Parliament to legislate the option to allow tenants to buy
products on the open market and pay a fair rent for the building."
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Guide Dogs
Liverpool visit John Lennon Airport
LIVERPOOL John Lennon
Airport (LJLA) on 8 October 2013, welcomed some very special guests
as part of Guide Dogs week in the UK.
Guide Dogs Liverpool owners Dawn from Runcorn and Roy from Aigburth,
along with their guide dogs Kerry and Pudsey, came into the airport
to educate airport staff about the needs of visually impaired
passengers.
LJLA recently gained approval for care assistant animals to travel
on both international and domestic flights. To help improve the
airport's customer services, Guide Dogs UK were invited to visit to
share their expertise.
Dawn, Roy, Kerry and Pudsey passed through the Airport on a mock
passenger journey, including; checking-in for a flight, passing
through security, moving through the departure lounge and walking to
the departure gate. A mock return journey then followed up with the
Guide Dogs Liverpool owners passing through the arrivals process in
an attempt to help Border Agency and other staff better understand
their responsibilities when dealing with guide dogs and their owners
as they travel through an airport.
Penny Williams, an Engagement Officer for the Guide Dogs
Association, explained the exercise. She told the press that:-
"The idea of coming in today was really to have a sort of mystery
shop exercise for guide dog owners going through the airport,
through the processes, and seeing if they could point out anything
that they may be able to improve on here at the airport and also to
tell staff the things that they're doing really well. We also wanted
to show that guide dog owners like to travel independently, flying
from their local airport here in Liverpool to places across Europe."
Christina Smith, Liverpool John Lennon Airport's customer services
co-ordinator, believed the exercise was a real benefit to the
airport staff. "We are very keen to encourage people with care
assistant animals to travel through our airport and we are always
looking out for new ways that we, as an airport, can improve our
customer services. By inviting the Guide Dog experts in, it was an
ideal opportunity to improve our services and we learned a lot.
Hopefully our relationship with Guide Dogs will grow from here."
Penny Williams agreed that the exercise was a great success and
encouraged more guide dog owners to use Liverpool John Lennon
Airport in the future. "The staff did really well, they were
very considerate. We made a few recommendations that the airport
have taken on board and hopefully we can work together in the
future. Everyone really enjoyed it and we hope lots more guide dog
owners will come through the airport in future."
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