What's the absolute minimum requirements/costs?

[Andy_R]

This is probably a hypothetical question, but it might provoke some interesting debates!

As some of you might know, here in London the mayor is introducing a 'congestion charge' for traffic, which means it will cost me an extra £5.00 tax to drive to work each day. Naturally, I have looked into the discounts and loopholes that might be avaialable, and I found that there is an exemption for "iso 9001/2000 certified breakdown companies'.

So, setting aside the morailty issies for a moment, my question is: What would the minimum requirement be to set up a "certified breakdown company" for the sole purpose of exempting me from this charge?

The company would have no customers, and would not actually *do* anything, all it has to do is exist, and be 9001/2000 certified for some kind of vehicle breakdown service (maybe some meaningless service like sticking taxc discs back on windscreens if they fall off).

Can such a company be set up and certified for less than the ongoing £5.00 UKP per working day that I would otherwise pay to drive my car to work?

 

[M Greenaway]

It is very doubtful that you could get certified without actually doing anything as you would need demonstable objective evidence that certain things were 'alive' and working.

 

[Claes Gefvenberg]

Andy, That was certainly an interesting first post. I agree with Martins conclusion of course, but I'm also curious.

Andy_R said:
---X---
As some of you might know, here in London the mayor is introducing a 'congestion charge' for traffic, which means it will cost me an extra £5.00 tax to drive to work each day. Naturally, I have looked into the discounts and loopholes that might be avaialable, and I found that there is an exemption for "iso 9001/2000 certified breakdown companies'.
---X---

Is this for real??? Please tell us more about that exemption. It would seem that the mayor has found the true way to evaluate the fitness of a company?

And welcome to the Cove

/Claes

 

[Mike S.]

I doubt the Mayor was thinking that only ISO 9000 breakdown compaies were "fit" but rather wanted to prevent someone from doing what Andy was thinking. I'll bet he figured the ISO 9000 requirement would make it cost-prohibitive for most people to say they were running a breakdown company.

Aren't taxes great?

 

[Andy_R]

Thanks for the welcome!

There isn't really much more to tell about the exemption, all I know about it is in a pdf file linked from this page:
****DEAD LINK REMOVED****

If a company that does nothing cannot be certified, how about one the provides an absolutely minimal service, maybe a service specificly designed to be easy to certify?

My idea is that the company would (for example) have a contract to something absurdy simple, such as repair my tax-disc holder if it should break, and it's only asset would be a roll of sticky tape

Maybe the cost of set-up and certification could be spread over several franchises, one per car, for my friends?

 

[db]

Quick question:

What is a "breakdown industry"?

 

[Andy_R]

Thanks for the repies, everyone.

I would only consider doing this if it could be done within the letter (if not the spirit!) of the law. I'm already a director of my own (real) business so I would need to be entirely above board about this.

I'm pretty new to the whole ISO certification idea, but in my brief researches I've not been able to find out exactly who can actually issue the certificates.

Are these 'cowboy certifiers' able to issue genuine certificates, or are they fakes? ...and equally importantly to my scheme, how much would a cowboy charge if they can issue a genuine (but of course worthless in terms of quality standards) piece of paper?

...and if you'll forgive me firing out more questions than answers...

How would I find out the exact wording of the specifcation that Jim Wade refers to?

As for the meaning of "breakdown industry", it is presumably intended to mean the recovery and/or roadside repair of broken down vechicles, since it would be a problem for the congestion charging zone to be a no-go area for repair trucks. As for what it actually means legally, I was rather hoping someone here would be more of an expert than I am!

 

[TPM Slave]

You could look on the ISO site, this will show you the many thousands of manuals which would explain anything and everything to do with ISO 9000,
I think you Idea is brilliant by the way, my tax disk falls off all the time!.

 

[M Greenaway]

Again I would say that even a theoretically legitimate company in legal terms could not get certification if they were effectively 'inactive', as an auditor would not be able to determine if the systems are adequate or appropriate, or being worked to if there were no records to view, or activity to view on the day of audit.

I havent read the 'loopholes' but if all it says is ISO9001:2000 compliant breakdown services, then such a loosely written stupid clause deserves to get hoodwinked - good luck.

I suggest you self declare yourself compliant, and put a sticker to such effect on the side fo your car - cost, about £10 for the laser cut sticker.

 

[Craig H.]

Andy:

I'm not sure about costs for registering a small company, but how about something like this, to make it an honest enterprise?

You mention having friends who might like to get in on the deal. Great, they are now employees (or subcontractors, depending on how you want to work the tax angle). Do all of you have a pair of jumper cables? If not, buy some. Carry them in your car and keep a list of the other members' cell phone numbers handy. This is a controlled document. Write procedures on jumping off a dead battery, and train each employee. Get each employee a sign for their car and a map. Each time one employee calls another employee on the list for a jump, the one with car trouble is billed for and pays the company 10 Pounds. The responding party gets 9 Pounds, and the remainder is deposited into a fund, which can be used for the owner's profit, or the annual meeting (read big party).

If done right, this could work, don't you think?

Craig