ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade Non-US Electrical Systems & Trades Electrocutions spark riots

I'm told by friends that the electricity bill is used for some identification purposes in France.

Fortunately, there is far less red tape in Scandinavian countries, but nevertheless the development in France is worrying. Several of "our" suburbs show the same underlying problems as the French, although at a much smaller scale. Only yesterday, the police confiscated a 155 mm howitzer just outside Stockholm. What are the no-goods gonna get themselves next? Tanks and ballistic missiles?

I don't know a thing about firearms, but what kind of bloody cannon is that??? 155mm... that should be enough to blow holes into a concrete wall!

Concrete wall?! 20" of armor plate at 2000 yards, no sweat, given the right round.

Alan

CH. Using a utility bill with your name and address to prove you are who you claim to be makes sense- how many folks carry an electricity bill in their wallet? Credit card, check-book, yes. In fact, this is becoming common practice in the UK too. The problem is, they love their bureaucracy, so you also need your passport, id card, marriage certificate, birth certificate, 20 yard swimming certificate, bank references, wife's full maiden name, place of birth, date of birth, driving licence, and a pair of your old socks. Drives me bonkers, all I want is a tube of bloody toothepaste!
Only joking, they don't want the swimming certificate.
Or the socks.

Alan

Have you ever tried to open a bank account as a non-local in the UK or the Republic of Ireland?

For a simple current account without an overdraft facility and without a debit card or a cheque book they will put you through hell.

Typically:
Passport or Irish Drivers Licence (non-irish ones usually unacceptable)
PPS number (like social security number) if you don't have one yet forget it.
2 utility bills in your name.

If you don't have 2 utility bills you have to get a member of the police force to sign and stamp proof of your address!
(or have it legally proven by a public notary)



[This message has been edited by djk (edited 11-11-2005).]

I have an account with Bank of Ireland in Dublin which I've held for several years, and if I recall correctly they accepted a U.K. license and and didn't ask for any social security number, but I think I did have to send a couple of utility bills as proof of my U.K. address. I've held that account for several years, so it's probably all different now (and of course I was a non-resident).

Last time I opened a bank account in England was when I changed banks about 5 years ago. I didn't want credit, a guarantee card, or anything like that, but they still process the application as though you were applying for a loan and run a credit check. As with a simple "current" (checking) account the bank is looking after my money, it would be more appropriate if I asked them for references!

I wonder whether a certain person at No. 10 is trying to catch us up to the levels of French bureaucracy sometimes, as it's certainly been getting steadily worse in recent years.

Just trying to get my 25% council-tax discount every year is becoming a nightmare in which the council demands proof of ID, utility bills, copy of driver's license or passport, etc. It's funny how they don't seem to ask for all of that before they send out the bill.

Paul, The difference I noticed between the UK and France is whereas UK bureaucracy is total chaos on the arse / elbow level, French bureaucracy is smooothly professional, if seemingly complex. Once you have a dossier completed, you have no further worries, it all works like well-oiled clockwork.
(Just to relieve the boredom they do occasionally 'lose' the complete dossier and ask you to fill it all out again. I have learned to tell them to bloody well look for the old one, and this usually works!)
An Example: Go to doctor's cabinet ( surgery). See quack. Pay €21 on the spot, walk round to pharmacy, get medicine. Give chemist 'chipped' medicare card containing your full life history. Card swiped. Pay for medicine. Milliseconds later, bank account has been credited with €20 for the doctor, and reimbursement of a % of the chemist's bill. At the same time, my insurance pays into my bank the rest of the reimbursement = 100% repaid. For this I pay French Social Security and the Insurance Co.. And the only reason I pay is that after pouring 9% of my UK earnings into the so-called 'National Insurance Fund' in the UK for nigh on 40 years, after 2 1/2 years abroad they cut you adrift with nothing. What a fraud! Recently a new Junior Minister was announced in the House as being in charge of the 'Fund'(sic). Up pops a friendly Opposition Member; "May I inquire of the Honorable Member how much money is in this 'Fund' you are in charge of?". After a lot of blustering, he had to admit the Fund didn't even exist, and there was thus no money in it. Pull stunts like this in the private sector and you go to jail for fraud. They do it with £50,000 a year expenses on top.
As to the civil disturbances, I see Chirac is getting the figurative guillotine oiled. Certain hot-headed politicos are headed for the chop, notably the salopard who called immigrants scum.

A. Scum (retired)

Paul,

You obviously opened that before the "Bogus non resident accounts" scandal...

That plus the anti-money laundering legislation that came into force has created a total nightmare for anyone opening any sort of a bank account.

It's caused havoc for a lot of new immigrants too... e.g. your employer won't pay by anything other than direct credit transfer into a bank account. you can't open a bank account without a utility bill. you can't get a utility bill in your name with out having the ability to set up a direct debit mandate,, which obviously requires a bank account! ... total catch 22.

and, since the introduction of the freedom reduction act or whatever series of laws came into force. Your PPS number's required for absolutely everything...

(Basically it allows the Revenue Commissioners (Tax people) to trace all your accounts...)

[This message has been edited by djk (edited 11-12-2005).]

Yep, I had that one at the council offices when I demanded action. Off goes the clerk, comes back five minutes later and says "The person who was dealing with your case isn't here and I can't find the file." Then he looks blankly as though I'm just supposed to say O.K. and leave.

Well, not this little black duck! I just said "Well you'd better go look for it then, I'll wait," and sat there. It's funny how he managed to come back with it about 15 minutes later.


I knew there was a lot in favor of being self-employed.

Good lord I live somewhere I don't need the electricity bill cos' I haven't had one in years.

Don't you just love those people who send out these papers to be filled out?

Take these little silly pieces of paper that comes from the bureau of statistics. It demands the price and weight of all imports from other EU countries every month.

What use can the state have for the information that we last month bought 1 kg of earth fault detectors and 360 kg of electrical cabinets?

Last year we shipped gear to China. Customs demanded guarantess of heat treated wood in all boxes and the contents of all boxes including photos and serial number of the parts!

(We literally missed the boat by a few days. Luckily, other suppliers were late too so the customer chartered a freighter to nearest airport in China. We had 9 tonnes of gear on that flight. )