Why does this invoice for the Holiday Inn, York come to more than the £1,155.19 Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service paid for it in January 2016?
Declaration of interest: The author of this piece is the Appellant in a First-Tier Tribunal case in which Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority is the Second Respondent (EA/2016/0054).
Below is an invoice unearthed during my citizen’s audit of Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service. It appears to be for three not specified people in “Team Merseyside” at the Holiday Inn in York from the 27th December 2015 to the 1st January 2016.
It’s the first page of a multi page invoice from the Holiday Inn York. Sadly Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority failed to provide the rest of the invoice as requested within the 30 working day deadline.
The payment is listed as £1,155.19 made on the 1st January 2016 to the Holiday Inn York. This amount doesn’t include VAT.
However the total on page one of the invoice comes to £1,638.48.
Even if you add the VAT to the amount paid at a rate of 20%, £1,155.19 * 120% only comes to £1,386.23p so it doesn’t make much sense to me.
However it’s possible although a dinner was included in the £80 a night price, that the room charges for bar food, room charges for rest food and a room charge for rest beverage were paid out of a different budget or by someone else. Or possibly some sort of discount was applied on the second missing page! Certainly the second page of the invoice would clear a lot of this up!
I could ask Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority to provide the missing page or pages but they’ve already been quite cross at me (after charging me £40 for copies) at how much officer time is involved in finding an invoice for the inspection and how they couldn’t charge me for the inspection etc etc.
After all there are only have three hundred or so administrative staff working at Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service. Which when you consider all they have to do such as employee payroll, invoices, day-to-day admin it probably isn’t enough staff when you consider my request for invoices during the 30 day inspection period seemed to take at least between around nine and a dozen staff at Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service to deal with (maybe the costs they refer to are their own unique way of doing things?)
I won’t bother their auditors Grant Thornton with these sorts of trifling anomalies as their response is usually just we don’t know, ask Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service!
As their press office appear to be under instructions not to give out quotes on behalf of Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service to me I haven’t asked them for a quote either before publishing as it seems to be a futile exercise.
Holiday Inn York
Tadcaster Road
York, YO24 1QF
United Kingdom
Tel: +44(0)8719429085
Fax: +44(O)1904702804
mailto:reservations@hiyorkhotel.co.uk
(Holiday Inn logo)
Holiday Inn
Team Merseyside
Gb
ELLESMERE PORT LITTL
ch66 4py
Bill 2016000024
Date 01/01/2016
Room 037 Twin Room Non
Arrival 27/12/2015
Departure 01/01/2016
CRS Confirmation 61146719
Holiday Inn, York
| Date | Description | Supplement | Qty. | Price | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 27/12 | Accommodation Dinner Brea | 033 Merseyside, Team | 1 | 80.00 | 80.00 |
| 27/12 | Accommodation Dinner Brea | 1 | 80.00 | 80.00 | |
| 27/12 | Accommodation Dinner Brea | 214 Merseyside, Team | 1 | 80.00 | 80.00 |
| 28/12 | Accommodation Dinner Brea | 033 Merseyside, Team | 1 | 80.00 | 80.00 |
| 28/12 | Accommodation Dinner Brea | 1 | 80.00 | 80.00 | |
| 28/12 | Accommodation Dinner Brea | 214 Merseyside, Team | 1 | 80.00 | 80.00 |
| 28/12 | Dinner Food Incl | inc | -1 | 36.00 | -36.00 |
| 28/12 | Room Charge Bar Food | Check:2015051345 | 1 | 47.25 | 47.25 |
| 29/12 | Accommodation Dinner Brea | 033 Merseyside, Team | 1 | 80.00 | 80.00 |
| 29/12 | Accommodation Dinner Brea | 1 | 80.00 | 80.00 | |
| 29/12 | Accommodation Dinner Brea | 214 Merseyside, Team | 1 | 80.00 | 80.00 |
| 29/12 | Dinner Food Incl | inc | -1 | 36.00 | -36.00 |
| 29/12 | Room Charge Bar Food | Check:2015051765 | 1 | 64.70 | 64.70 |
| 30/12 | Accommodation Dinner Brea | 033 Merseyside, Team | 1 | 80.00 | 80.00 |
| 30/12 | Accommodation Dinner Brea | 1 | 80.00 | 80.00 | |
| 30/12 | Accommodation Dinner Brea | 214 Merseyside, Team | 1 | 80.00 | 80.00 |
| 30/12 | Dinner Food Incl | inc 033 Merseyside, Team | -1 | 27.10 | -27.10 |
| 30/12 | Dinner Food Incl | inc | -1 | 36.00 | -36.00 |
| 30/12 | Room Charge Rest Food | Check:2015051959 | 1 | 21.90 | 21.90 |
| 30/12 | Room Charge Rest Food | Check:2015051962 033 Mers | 1 | 19.15 | 19.15 |
| 30/12 | Room Charge Rest Food | Check:2015052009 | 1 | 5.95 | 5.95 |
| 30/12 | Room Charge Rest Food | Check:2015052011 033 Mers | 1 | 7.95 | 7.95 |
| 30/12 | Room Charge Bar Food | Check:2015051893 | 1 | 62.08 | 62.08 |
| 31/12 | Accommodation Dinner Brea | 033 Merseyside, Team | 1 | 80.00 | 80.00 |
| 31/12 | Accommodation Dinner Brea | 1 | 80.00 | 80.00 | |
| 31/12 | Accommodation Dinner Brea | 214 Merseyside, Team | 1 | 80.00 | 80.00 |
| 31/12 | Room Charge Rest Food | Check:2015052073 | 1 | 85.70 | 85.70 |
| 31/12 | Room Charge Rest Food | Check:2015052173 | 1 | 108.80 | 108.80 |
| 31/12 | Room Charge Rest Beverage | Check:2015052073 | 1 | 15.00 | 15.00 |
This hotel is owned and operated by Kew Green Hotels (York) Limited under license from IHG Hotels.
Registered Office 2nd Floor, Dome Building, The Quadrant, Richmond, Surrey, TW9 1DT
Company Registration 9096181, VAT Number 798600878
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