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19 May 08 - 11:21 AM (#2344395) Subject: BS: Referee shown yellow card From: GUEST,Smokestack Lightening A magistrate in Wales showed a town's mayor the yellow card this morning (Monday) after he was caught refereeing football matches while claiming state disability benefits. Keith McNiffe was found to have officiated at 67 games over two seasons while claiming over 9,000 pounds of tax payers money for being too ill to walk. The 49-year-old was scrounging Incapacity Benefit and Disability Living Allowance. He also stepped down as mayor of Pembroke in west Wales. He admitted two offences of failing to notify the authorities of the change in his condition (He claimed he couldn't walk ten yards when he filled the benefit form). The court handed him a four-month jail term, suspended for 18 months, ordered him to complete 200 hours' unpaid work and pay 75 pounds in costs. He will also have to repay the money he claimed illegally. The chief fraud officer for Wales said after the case that the number of fraud officers in Britain has trebled in the past three years. |
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19 May 08 - 12:53 PM (#2344457) Subject: RE: BS: Referee shown yellow card From: Jean(eanjay) Considering that he looks a bit overweight as well, I doubt if I could have kept up with him :-) running round the football field |
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19 May 08 - 12:59 PM (#2344463) Subject: RE: BS: Referee shown yellow card From: The Sandman what a waste of time,prosecuting this man. meanwhile politicians and the well connected like Bertie Ahern,do not get prosecuted. |
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19 May 08 - 01:04 PM (#2344467) Subject: RE: BS: Referee shown yellow card From: jacqui.c I used to see this type of thing occasionally when I worked as an injury claims negotiator. Not only would we have a claim in for what appeared to be devastating injuries but it would turn out the State benefits were being claimed as well. Then we would get an investigator to go out with their trusty camera and get video of the person climbing ladders, running for buses and all the other miracles that can happen to someone with a badly broken bone or a debilitating back injury. Once or twice we would turn over the report to the DHSS when we dismissed the majority of the claim. For a public dignitary to act in this way really does take the cake - here's hoping that he might learn a lesson and that his days as a referee will be over as well. Can't you just imagine the barracking he could take on a football field after this! |
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19 May 08 - 04:19 PM (#2344575) Subject: RE: BS: Referee shown yellow card From: open mike what is the significance of a "yellow Card"? |
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19 May 08 - 04:43 PM (#2344602) Subject: RE: BS: Referee shown yellow card From: GUEST,Arnie at work open mike - a yellow card is a football warning. The ref shows a player a yellow card for a foul or unsporting behaviour eg. taking a dive in order to get a free kick or penalty. If a second offence is committed, then the ref shows the player a red card and he's sent off and suspended, usually for the next 3 matches. Cheers Arnie |
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19 May 08 - 11:05 PM (#2344847) Subject: RE: BS: Referee shown yellow card From: open mike oh i see..well,here (u.s.) a pink card is usually a vehicle registration or title, and a green card is a work permit for non-citizens. |
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20 May 08 - 05:36 AM (#2344970) Subject: RE: BS: Referee shown yellow card From: GUEST,Ockbrook And it looks that this guy wasn't on his own. Record levels of benefit fraud have been detected by a Government watchdog but authorities are failing to tackle the problem, according to a new report. The National Fraud Initiative carried out every two years by the Audit Commission, has uncovered £140 million in fraudulent benefit claims in 2006/07. This includes £24 million in housing benefits, £4 million in income support,28 million in Disability Living Allowance and more than 16,000 disabled parking badges being used by people who did not need them. Chairman Michael O'Higgins said people are stealing homes, pensions, student loans, parking places and benefits, seemingly confident that no one is tracking them. They are wrong. We urge all public bodies to put in place the necessary trained staff to work with us and follow up any matches. It makes both moral and financial sense to detect fraud and over-payment. If there is no effective penalty for fraud there is no deterrent. We should adopt a zero tolerance on those that commit this type of fraud. The report comes after news that the bill for Incapacity Benefit is now higher than the estimated cost of staging the 2012 Olympics. |
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20 May 08 - 12:36 PM (#2345278) Subject: RE: BS: Referee shown yellow card From: The Sandman If there is no effective penalty for fraud there is no deterrent. We should adopt a zero tolerance on those that commit this type of fraud. yes,and please do so for all the fraudelent politicians who are supposed to be representing their constituents ,but are feathering their own nests,it is very easy to catch small fry like this referee.but not to catch the well connected who have powerful friends. more money was wasted by Bertie Ahern[AND THE irish government] on Berties Bowl,than any referee dodged in benefit. people are stealing other peoples money a lot of them are solicitors like Micheal Lynn, ockbrook get your priorities right. |
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20 May 08 - 12:57 PM (#2345297) Subject: RE: BS: Referee shown yellow card From: Grab Hmm, my previous post seems to have vanished. :-( Cap'n, that's as may be, but Bertie Ahern is Irish. Ireland is not part of Britain. Now if you were to talk about the al-Yamamah bribery, where $1bn of UK taxpayers' money went into Prince Bandar's own back pocket, then you'd be talking my language. Can't believe Westland practically brought down the Thatcher government, but no-one seems to care about al-Yamamah. Or Shirley Porter being let off nicking £40m worth of council houses by her Tory mates, for that matter. Still and all, I don't want people let off just because they didn't nick very much, same as you wouldn't want the drunk who punches you for no reason to be let off because it was only a small bruise. Zero tolerance applies to the small fry as much as the big boys. Graham. |
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20 May 08 - 04:39 PM (#2345496) Subject: RE: BS: Referee shown yellow card From: The Sandman grab, but the big boys never get caught,because they have friends in the right places. all this is cosmetic, to be seen to be doing something. I want the law to be applied equally to everyone or not at all. the rich manage to avoid paying income tax,why because they can afford expensive accountants,who know the loop holes,in theory its the fairest tax in practice it aint. |