Pensioners Underground...Literally

By Rob Last edited 226 months ago
Pensioners Underground...Literally
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It's like the old proverb says: "The only rich pensioner is a dead pensioner".

Ok, so that's not a real saying, but it should be, especially now it's been revealed that Transport for London have been "paying thousands of pounds to dead pensioners".

According to a recent audit of TfL's 'financial irregularities' (just one of 123 similar investigations in the past year) when the National Insurance details of deceased pensioners were crossreferenced with those of the 'living', a few anomalies cropped up.

Dismssing the possibility of a zombie invasion, a TfL spokesman has said that "family members of former employees found to be illegally claiming payments would be prosecuted".

Of course the Standard is laying the blame for the increased irregularities squarely at the door of a certain Mr Livingstone:

The rise in the number of investigations is being attributed to the handover of London Underground to Mayor Ken Livingstone in 2003 and its incorporation into TfL, which now employs 19,000 staff.

Meanwhile Ken himself was busy congratulating "Tim O'Toole, his management team and all of the staff of London Underground," for carrying a record number of passengers on the system last year.

And, in a final bit of Tube news, here's a breakdown of how the Underground, erm...broke down, yesterday.

Last Updated 18 May 2005