You couldn't make it up...

If you're in a Government office in Norwich and need a toilet seat repaired, where would you go to get that done? A firm in Norwich you would think. But no - if your Department has a maintenance contract with some big national firm, then it's down to them to fix it, and they may decide to send someone from Birmingham to do the job. This has actually happened, and is but one example of workmen being sent long distances to carry out trivial maintenance tasks. In another case a workman was sent from London to Cheshire to replace some light bulbs. Although on the face of it, the loser in all this is the maintenance firm, presumably the costs involved are factored in to the contract cost and at a time when we can ill afford to waste public money, this is something which badly needs sorting.