Coronavirus And The Broads

[JennyMorgan]

https://www.edp24.co.uk/business/mps-in-norfolk-urge-chancellor-to-come-to-aid-of-tourism-industry-hit-by-coronavirus-1-6594691?utm_medium=Email&utm_source=Newsletter&utm_campaign=DM24101

[Vaughan]

I quite agree with that and the facts are there. Seasonal tourist businesses will not survive as things stand.

I am afraid I can't help remembering though, only a couple of weeks ago, when some of these newly elected MPs were yelling with loud voices in the press that people should stay away from Norfolk.

We don't want you here! I seem to remember was the theme?

 

[JennyMorgan]

1 hour ago, Vaughan said:

We don't want you here! I seem to remember was the theme?

It is still the theme and understandably so, not just here in Norfolk either, it would also appear to apply to Scotland. 

Having reread the EDP report it does appear that there is a realisation that the 2020 holiday season might not even take place. 

[VetChugger]

I realise and am aware that we do not normally mention "the other place"! On this occasion I will make no apology for directing fellow forumites to go over and look under the "BA & Toll Charges" thread at a post from TT at 6.24pm Sunday.

I think you may agree what a tremendous example this would be to many many other business owners and landlords  during this awful crisis.

[Vaughan]

9 hours ago, JennyMorgan said:

It is still the theme and understandably so, not just here in Norfolk either, it would also appear to apply to Scotland. 

That's all very well but tourism has always been extremely fragile to a bad press and banner headlines such as that, will tend to linger in the public mind for quite a while afterwards. It made me cringe when I thought of all the times it has happened before on the Broads.

These brand new young MPs should be rather more aware of that if they really want to support our tourist industry rather than just getting their name in the papers.

[ranworthbreeze]

It's not just Norfolk that is going to be reeling after this pandemic is eventually over. The country as an whole will not be the same many small and even some large companies will not survive the shut-down that may last for a few months to come. 

The idiots that are not following the current rules are making the situation worse and the scum of the earth steeling from nurses cars, homes and stalking NHS staff, there has been a number of NHS staff identification stolen in Sheffield.

Regards

Alan 

[unclemike]

seen it and i agree trev

 

[Meantime]

11 minutes ago, ranworthbreeze said:

The idiots that are not following the current rules are making the situation worse

That's no way to speak about the Scottish ex CMO  Actually I can think of far worse ways but I don't want to send the moderation team into overdrive

[JennyMorgan]

Vaughan, I do agree with your sentiments but whilst our holiday areas are still remarkably and thankfully clear of this virus, it wouldn't take much to swing it the other way, I'm afraid the door has to remain closed.. 

Rest assured that the demand to stay away is not just limited to Broadland. At Southwold, for example, road signs have been set up clearly telling visitors and holiday home owners to sod off! Devon tourism has also been pretty outspoken. Wales has been less fortunate but lessons have been learned. Our MP's sod off comments are unwelcome and uncharacteristic of the Broads but regretfully they are necessary.  

[MauriceMynah]

A fine and noble gesture from Dave (TT) but he needs to consider more carefully his views about big companies and their shareholders.

Frequently with big companies, the shareholders are pension funds. The "greedy fat cat cigar smoking shareholders" are a tiny minority, and not even worth worrying about.

Take my own case. I am an antiques dealer. My business has just gone down the toilet. I also have a 50% share in a house which is rented out. Finally, I receive a small pension from a company I worked for some years ago. If the tenant in the house I co-own gets into trouble, I can survive for a few months on my pension and be flexible for him. That pension is there because of big businesses having shareholders. Hit them and you hit my pension. Hit my pension and you hit my tenant as my flexibility would go out of the window.

Things just are not quite as black and white as people think.

[Meantime]

Maurice Whilst I understand and sympathise with your comments about share holders and pension funds, it's worth pointing out that Dave (TT) is talking specifically about hire yards, in particular the larger hire yards and their shareholders. I don't know of any Broads hire yards which have a public pension fund shareholding. The shareholders tend to be the families who own the hire yard.

I own my own small company and as a share holder take an annual dividend. I also ensure the company has financial reserves to cover emergencies. My work load will have dropped and so will my dividend, but the reserves will keep my company trading without any handouts from the government. What Dave is suggesting is why should the BA be helping out the larger hire yards when the families / shareholders who own them should have the reserves to support them. He was talking about the shareholders of multi million pound companies on The Broads, not the shareholders of multi billion pound national companies that feature on the FTSE100.

[MauriceMynah]

I have re-read TT's post and agree that he is talking about large businesses (Hire yards), but somehow it still doesn't sit happily with me.

Let's not mince words. The big hire companies are Richardsons, Herbert Woods and Barns Brinkcraft and whilst I fully accept that my "shareholders and pension funds" argument probably doesn't apply, I do question the paragraph

"but there are also large multimillion pound business's that should be able to stand on their own 2 feet, the aid that they are getting from the BA is going directly into shareholders pockets. Shareholder in these companies have benefited from huge profits over the past few years and they should be supporting the company and not relying on the BA and ultimately the private owners to bale them out."  

 I wonder! Does it go straight into the shareholders pockets? or could it be ensuring the continued workload when the hiring has stopped? I don't know.

Have the yards been making "huge profits" over the past few years? I don't know.

I know the answer to neither of those two questions, but nor do I know if TT does!

No, as I said in my earlier post, I applaud TT's actions completely, but still question the rant that followed.
 

[webntweb]

Passport to Pimlico?

[JennyMorgan]

25 minutes ago, webntweb said:

Passport to Pimlico?

For the 'lock down' to work I'm afraid that we might need to set up passport control!

[ExSurveyor]

1 minute ago, JennyMorgan said:

For the 'lock down' to work I'm afraid that we might need to set up passport control!

Or just check for webbed feet before allowing entry

[Wussername]

This is not the first time TT has had a pop at "the boat yards". Completely unjustified from my view point. Where does he get this financial information from? Is he privy to that which is disclosed in the board room. I think not.

Andrew

[webntweb]

8 minutes ago, psychicsurveyor said:

Or just check for webbed feet before allowing entry

Subtle

[Vaughan]

I think this is a perfect example of why the moderators dis-approve of links to other forums. 

 

Let's look, for the sake of it, at what he says. He has given his pub tenants a moratorium on their rent for three months. He dresses this up as a generous gesture but in fact he has no choice. He is only trying to protect what he calls "his pension". Of course he wants to help his tenants to stay in business or he wouldn't get any more rent anyway! And he is hardly likely to find any other "takers" to run a pub, right now!

He "slates" the BA for helping the boatyards but aren't they doing the same thing? They are offering the boatyards a moratorium on their "rent" for about 3 months. This has nothing to do with fat cat shareholders. As soon as the yards can start hiring again, they will pay their tolls again. I don't know of any other "aid" that the BA have offered the boatyards? Certainly no financial grant.

This has been written by someone who obviously knows nothing of the running of a tourist boatyard business.

But then, I surprise myself, by responding to this. I gave up listening to what this chap on "the other side" had to say, a while before he got thrown off "this side".

[unclemike]

17 minutes ago, Wussername said:

Where does he get this financial information from?

look online its open there

[Wussername]

Where? Company House (beta) in significant detail to justify such comments in detail?

[unclemike]

simple, put company name in google and you can get company overview showing accounts, i just did it for two boatyards both with an after tax profit of £500,000 annually

[Vaughan]

1 minute ago, chameleon said:

simple, put company name in google and you can get company overview showing accounts, i just did it for two boatyards both with an after tax profit of £500,000 annually

And how have they invested that profit, instead of just paying exorbitant tax on it?  By investing it in capital, for the building of new boats, I imagine?

And do we think that £500,000, is a lot of profit, for a business like those that we are now calling "fat cats"?

[unclemike]

not getting into an argument about it, andrew asked how tt got info  so i pointed this out, and investments have been factored in before this point

[Meantime]

For private toll payers the toll is a cost that cannot be offset against any profit, future or past. If a business is truly struggling, as in is not making a profit, or has no reserves then it needs government help, not a bail out from the BA, especially if it is at the expense of the private toll payer.

Any profit, is too much profit, if accepting a "lifeline" to stay in business. A lifeline should be to help a company stay afloat, not to protect its reserves. Was the lifeline offered by the BA actually asked for by the hire yards, or was it just offered at our expense?

[Wussername]

50 minutes ago, chameleon said:

not getting into an argument about it, andrew asked how tt got info  so i pointed this out, and investments have been factored in before this point

It is not as simple as it may seem Mike. The variable costs of running a business can be daunting. Who could have anticipated this particular issue and who amongst us can anticipate it's consequences. You will not find the answer in the accounts, within the balance sheet. But you may discover that which we seek in the future.

May I ask who will pay the ferry man?