Page last updated at 10:18 GMT, Saturday, 11 April 2009 11:18 UK

Snow bonus: Your reaction

Staff at the Crown Prosecution Service in London are to receive a bonus of £250 for turning up to work during heavy snowfall.

Here, BBC News website readers share their thoughts on the bonuses and their own experiences of getting to work during the heavy snow earlier this year.


Yes, I think they deserve the money, but, it was near impossible for people who have to commute from outside of London. Trains were not running from my local station, and the roads were impassable.
Walter Williams, Daventry, Northants, UK

Absolutely outrageous! Not only do they have what are probably some of the country's most secure jobs (no doubt with bomb-proof pensions thrown in) but they are now being paid extra (at our expense) just for getting through a bit of snow. For the rest of us? Turn up or lose a day's pay. Marvellous! They are presumably the only employees who can afford to heed the ludicrous advice "do not travel unless your journey is essential" and get away with it.
John Patston, Northam, Devon, UK

Whilst schemes like this are always welcome, a £250 bonus is a lot for one day, (unless they work for a bank). A voucher for a free meal in the staff canteen would be more appropriate. As the scheme is also likely to be benefiting those who lived close enough to get to work on that day, the size of the bonus could well instil some bad feeling among those who tried, but failed, to get into work.
Mike Hartland, Gloucester, UK

On the day of the big snow I turned up to work an hour early as I gave myself more time to get there as news were telling us previously. I did not get any reward and I wasn't expecting it. I don't think CPS staff should get any reward for going to work, that's everyone's duty. What's next, rewarding people for going to work in the summer instead of stay at home in the garden with a G&T?
Angel Alvarez-Diaz, London, UK

Rewarded for turning up for work? Where do you draw a line? What about the emergency service men and women, the doctors and nurses? The list is endless. The only time I "couldn't" make it to work was the winter of 1987 when there were two metres of snow in my road and my office was 45 minutes drive away, so I was expected to walk to my local office and work from there. Giving rewards like this sends the wrong message.
Jonathan Heppell, Siofok, Hungary

I bet the person who thought up the idea lives in a flat next to the CPS. What an irresponsible group of people endangering the lives of the emergency services for the benefit of what?
Freddy, Barnsley, UK

This is a disgraceful use of public money and rewards either those who were lucky enough to be on a public transport route that remained open or who were sufficiently foolhardy to travel despite inclement weather and general advice to travel where only really necessary. It totally gives out the wrong signal and might encourage others to take unnecessary risks in future bad weather. Furthermore, given both the above and the current economic climate these 'bonuses' should be summarily withdrawn and returned.
Colin Watts, Edenbridge, UK

The people who authorised this should be fined their annual salary as compensation for the taxpayer.
Taxpayer, UK

Obviously as is usual no other part of England suffers with bad weather and snow conditions but London. Staff in other government departments struggle to get to work in extreme weather conditions but do not get a 'bonus' some are lucky if they receive a thank you of any description. It is always the same with the winter weather, the only people that suffer and get a mention live south of the Watford Gap. If a bonus is to be paid it should go country-wide to everyone that struggles to get into work not just the chosen few.
C Elliott, Pocklington, Near York, UK

I also work in the public sector and went that "extra mile" by getting to work during the heavy snow. Some of my colleagues didn't manage it. Should I be given a bonus for turning up for work?
T Jones, Eastleigh, Hampshire, UK

No, they shouldn't be paid this money. It should be the duty of every employee to make as much effort as possible to get to work. Sometimes it may be impossible but they could have gone into their nearest CPS office and reported for work. The money could be best spent on bringing criminals to justice or helping witnesses give the best evidence. They waste money every year using up unspent budgets.
Julie, Lancashire, UK

My wife Katharine is deputy manager at a local care home. Realising the weather was going to cause difficulties for some of her colleagues reliant on public transport, she got up early and walked the two-plus miles to the home to provide cover. She viewed it as her responsibility and duty. Almost all of her staff managed to turn up for their shifts that day. Extra payments from public funds for civil servants turning up to work? It's outrageous. Yet another case of noses in the trough of public funding.
Timothy Plumb, Twickenham, Middlesex, UK

Another waste of public money. Civil servants already have instructions on what to do during extreme weather etc. It includes walking to another office and declaring that you cannot get to your own office and that you are presenting yourself for work. So people who walked to another office get nothing? In the north east when we get heavy snow we don't get a bonus. When I was based in Scotland we didn't get (or expect) a bonus for getting to work.
Derek Brown, Morpeth, UK

Wrong way round, the people who didn't make it should be docked the day's pay, rather than rewarding people for turning up. People in the North and Midlands were hit equally hard, but the level of absence was nowhere near what it was in London.
Ed, Clackmannanshire, Stirling, UK



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