Service station workers have been given the runaround
THERE is nothing legendary about Harthill services – the first motorway station in Scotland, on the M8, opened 47 years ago.
For almost half that time, staff who worked at the Roadchef chain have been involved in an epic battle to get millions of pounds owed to them from an employee share option scheme.
First, they were diddled out of their money by a transfer of ownership.
Then, just when they won a big court case, it was discovered £10million in their benefits scheme had been paid to HMRC in tax from the sale of the shares.
Since 2014, the trust for the workers have been pushing for HMRC to repay the money for 4000 former employees.
They have been championed in parliament by Neil Gray MP, whose constituency covers the service station. He has made tireless efforts on their behalf.
Gray has asked questions of the Prime Minister and the Chancellor, staged debates and met HMRC officials to highlight the injustice of low-paid workers waiting so long to get their due.
Everyone from the Prime Minister down offered sympathy but little action.
This week, Gray raised the issue again at Treasury Questions only to get another brush-off from Ministers who say they can’t intervene in individual cases.
Gray is appalled by the attitude of Ministers and stonewalling HMRC officials who, it is suggested, made heavy-handed threats against the trust when they were challenged about the case. He said: “This is not a tax issue. The court ruled the £10million payment was an unlawful transaction but the HMRC treat it as a taxable event. This is utter nonsense. It galls me that Ministers are not taking responsibility for HMRC tax officials.”
Next week, MPs on the Treasury committee will cross-examine HMRC on the issue.
Why can’t the Roadchef workers get their hands on their own money?
More fundamentally, who guards the guardians on the HMRC?