DOT's private high bills
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5 he Department of Transport has just squandered £250,000 without a penny of the money being used to improve roads or services to road users. Instead it has been spent employing private detectives to track down protesters who fought the Twyford Down scheme in Hampshire.
The result of the sleuths' investigations has been that eight people have served short jail sentences (costing more taxpayers' money) and 54 summonses have been issued, but few served.
The protesters have been bemused by the activities of the gumshoes employed by Southampton's Bray's Detective Agency as they traverse the country in search of their quarry. By March the DOT's campaign had cost 1249,715, and this figure could top £350,000 by the end of the year.
"They identified us for the courts as birds and animals like Egret, Reed Warbler, Coot and Siskin," says Emma Must, jailed for a week for breaking an injunction. The would-be Marlows were not difficult to spot: "They all wore sharp suits, drove sports cars and had flat haircuts," she says. The contract is being extended to December to monitor any disruption while the Winchester by-pass is being dug up. No doubt DOT employees considering their next payclaim will be pleased to hear that there is so much money in the department's kitty.