Scotland Yard comes under fire after spending more than £8million on flights including £400,000 on luxury first class travel while making huge cuts to frontline services

Scotland Yard has spent almost £5million on premium flights while making huge cuts to frontline services.

Officers racked up a £4,838,689 bill for non-economy seats, including £407,952 on 114 first-class tickets.

The total for the past three years comes to more than half the entire £8,577,748 spent on flights for officers and staff.

The latest figures were obtained by the TaxPayers’ Alliance under freedom of information laws.

Policy analyst Duncan Simpson said: ‘It is completely unacceptable that we are taxed to pay for luxury flights that few of us could ever enjoy ourselves. 

'Members of the police will, in the course of their duties, have to take flights occasionally, but it is difficult to understand why they should be travelling so expensively.’

The Metropolitan Police Service did not give a breakdown of the costs but among its responsibilities is guarding senior politicians, diplomats and the Royal Family.

A spokesman said: ‘In all instances, the most economical fare is purchased that meets the needs of the traveller and the reason for the visit.

‘The work of the Met officers and staff can require them to travel abroad for investigative and operational reasons.’

Scotland Yard Commissioner Cressida Dick, who is battling a surge in violent crime, has seen more than £600million taken from her budget.  - Daily Mail

Woman expresses shock as in-laws send bill of £156 for broken wine glass

A woman was sent a £156 bill by her in-laws after she accidentally broke a wine glass at their home. 

The mum-to-be, who is currently five months pregnant with her first child, had been visiting them with her husband when the break happened.

At first they appeared to express their indifference over it. However, all was not as it seemed, as the woman explained on a  Mumsnet thread.

“Went to PIL’ [parents-in-law] home last weekend, had a glass of wine and I accidentally dropped it,” she wrote. “No big deal, they shrugged it off.”

The woman highlighted the fact that she believes she has a good relationship with both of her husband’s parents, having been with him for four years.

However, despite their apparent lack of concern over the broken wine glass, they then proceeded to send an email to the woman a few days later asking that she reimburse them or replace it.

“I didn’t know at the time, but said wine glass apparently happens to be pretty high end,” she wrote.

 “FIL [father-in-law] has this morning sent me an email saying that I can just transfer the £156 to him or buy the glass online. At first I thought it was a joke only to realise that these people have no sense of humour.

“Really shocked at this as they are not known for being stingy.”

The woman also stressed the fact that while her in-laws are fairly wealthy, she and her husband are not as financially stable.

She revealed that she was tempted to replace the wine glass with a £20 version from Amazon and asked for her fellow Mumsnet users to express their views on the situation.

Numerous people agreed that the in-laws were being unreasonable with their request, especially as they had appeared not to mind about the broken wine glass at the time.

 “He has the money to buy expensive glasses, but not the class to go with it,” one person commented.

Another described the father-in-law's behaviour as “passive aggressive”, stating: “You’re really now seeing his true colours.”

However, one person chimed in that the woman should have immediately offered to replace the wine glass, writing: “If I broke something at someone else’s house I would offer to replace it and expect to do so.

“Your FIL is rude to ask, but it’s even poorer form that the OP [original poster] didn’t offer in the first place.”

Last month, a mother sparked outrage after charging her friends to attend her baby shower to cover the costs of the event. - The Independent

FG bars federal universities from charging tuition fees

The Federal Executive Council (FEC) on Wednesday stated that no federal university should charge tuition fees, as it is against the law.

The Minister of State for Education, Anthony Anwuka, made this known while speaking to State House correspondents, after the cabinet meeting presided over by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.

Anwuka disclosed that the council discussed the school fees being charged by various universities “and noted that as of law, no federal university should charge tuition fees.”

The Minister also said the National Universities Commission (NUC) had been directed to clarify and update the council on the matter.

“We understand some universities now charge fees per course unit and we are going to make sure that we investigate that properly and make it stop.

“Students can pay other auxiliary fees, but not in excess. Various university councils and management should be able to fix what fees students should pay that is affordable and acceptable to the students. That is the position.

“The federal government does not determine fees for private and state universities. It only takes responsibility for fees paid in the federal universities,” he said. _ The Nation