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3.11.10

Concessionary Travel Scheme * UK - Bus firm is paid £150m for

 There is no suggestion First has over-claimed under the scheme or submitted incorrect claim

Glasgow,Scotland,UK -The Sunday Herald, by Damien Henderson -28 Oct 2010: -- Scotland’s biggest bus company was paid more than £150 million in the first four years of the Government’s concessionary travel scheme, despite not accurately recording how many passengers were issued with free tickets...   First Glasgow, was the only company in Scotland to opt to use passenger surveys to count the number of disabled and elderly passengers with concessionary tickets, rather than data from ticketing systems, when the policy was introduced in 2006...   New figures disclosed to The Herald show that, prior to the introduction in April of mandatory electronic ticketing systems that accurately recorded concessionary passengers, First Glasgow was paid £151.6m from Transport Scotland, which administers the scheme...   In the 12 months to April, the company was paid £44.5m, nearly a quarter of the total paid to bus operators that year for concessionary travel...   There is no suggestion First has over-claimed under the scheme or submitted incorrect claims. However, a recent report by Audit Scotland was highly critical of the decision to allow different methods for counting concessionary passengers, which, combined with a four-year delay in introducing accurate electronic ticketing machines, meant there was a “substantial risk of claims being incorrect”...   Transport Scotland declined to say whether First Glasgow had been investigated under its validation processes in cases of suspected overpayments, but said “appropriate” audit checks had confirmed payments to the company were correct...   The agency also defended the concession card scheme as a “widespread success” but distanced itself from the accounting arrangements in place when it was introduced...    (Photo - Fares Fair: Every year thousands of disabled and elderly Scots travel for free on buses under the concessionary scheme)

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