Mark Thompson’s Expenses
There has been a lot of fuss about the BBC’s Director General Mark Thompson’s expense of cutting his holiday short because of the Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross affair, that some call Sachsgate. Here’s an article in the Guardian.
Thompson claimed £2,236.90 to cut his family holiday in Italy short and fly back to the UK on 30 October last year to deal with the Sachsgate row that engulfed the BBC after offensive messages left on actor Andrew Sachs’s answer machine by Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross were subsequently broadcast in Radio 2.
Mark Thompson was on BBC Breakfast this morning and said that it was a driving holiday with his family in Sicily and as the Trustees of the BBC wanted him to get back, it would not have been the a good idea to leave them behind without a car.
Quite right!
Some years ago, my late wife and I spent a very enjoyable holiday driving around Sicily looking at all the sites. They are wonderful by the way and the holiday was finished by a memorable performance of Jesus Christ Superstar in the amphitheatre at Taormina.
Sicily is not Italy, in that there are long drives between the sites, cafes and hotels are far apart and except in cites like Palermo and Taormina, it is not a country you can enjoy by yourself. So as Mark Thompson had to come home, he had to bring his wife and family back.
Out of curiosity I just tried to book flights for two adults and two children back from Sicily, either today or tomorrow.
Ryanair wanted to charge me about £700 for this, but it would get you to Stansted and knowing Sicily well, it might not be too easy to book the flight from there. With Ryanair’s new conditions on baggage and ticketing, I suspect that a family might find that this airline would not be possible. I use them a lot and plan what I take before I leave.
I also tried British Airways. They only fly from Catania and that gets you to Gatwick. The cost was £3703.94!
So I think we got good value for his flight back.
I suspect too that Mark Thompson got a hell of a lot of grief from his family!
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The Anonymous Widower 
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