£40,000 SATNAV FOR BINMEN
A local authority is under fire for spending £40,000 on satellite navigation systems for its refuse trucks - even though the vehicles cover the same routes every week and the crews say they never get lost.
York City Council has fitted the devices to its 40-strong fleet of dustcarts, gritters and gulley cleaners.
The £1,000 system, which includes on-screen maps of the whole of the UK and continental Europe, is mainly used by car-fleet operators, police forces and parcel delivery companies.
Tory local government spokesman Eric Pickles said: 'There are much cheaper devices to do the job just as well.'
Mark Wallace, of the Taxpayers' Alliance campaign group, said: 'All we want the council to do is to pick up the bins. This obsession with high-tech gadgets is costing us all a fortune.'
A council spokesman said: 'The system allows us to communicate better.'
(The Mail On Sunday)
