Can't fiddle the drinks machines at work....they are free (well I could take them offsite...but it's stealing)

Haven't fiddled expenses, I think it's a benefit not a right to working at the company, take the mic and they should be refused.

For mileage...it's what I use my trip counter for (and economy calculations)

Heard my favourite expenses (attempted) fiddle on the radio just the other day: A journalist took a balloon trip across the channel and said that he had to throw his luggage out as they would have dropped into the sea otherwise.

All louis vuitton of course...

True, but in some cases it went beyond milking the system. Quite a few cases are actual fraud.

And that's the problem where is the dividing line? It appears to be a large grey buffer zone not black and white. Yeah some things are bloody obviously right or wrong but most, well I suspect there will be a long argument involved.

Lets play devils advocate a second.

There was grief yesterday about a trouser press being charged. Well as a senior manager in hotels for years I used one every day, I didn't have an issue with him charging it for the London ( second ) home.

Repair of a water pipe under a tennis court. Well the repair was a legal requirement ( he was served with a statutory notice about it ) so instead of tennis court say it was under driveway and what's the issue? That fact that his second home has a tennis court is a totally different argument in my book.

Runs and hides.

I make personal calls at work, the odd "Mum, what time did Dad say he'd be here?", or "I'm leaving now, I'll be at the train station in half an hour, then up with you in about 7 hours". If a customer has come in and had lunch in a meeting room the gone off leaving food there, my colleagues and myself will usually polish it off...I've come home to find a biro still behind my ear and it usually ends up staying at home, and other things I find still in my pockets (the odd stick of RAM I took out a machine (in a non-static bag), a screwdriver, etc) always get returned the next day.

At my previous place of work (building department in a department store) lots of the staff thieved, I'm not saying it was right, but the company didn't treat any of us particularly well, and the pay was rubbish.

Chuckles and I remember some advice you gave me about them to. regarding double glazing / conservatory units and what they did with them.............. from what I can remember.

I don't remember...

I suppose I should 'fess up too

I voted £3 for the following:

Personal calls: This was a tricky one, because we had stupid rules. The rules were: You're allowed to make personal calls, but if your bill goes over X then you pay. The thing is, we never knew what our bills were and X included all business calls! Basically, I only used the company phone to say "I'm gonna be late" or deal with other personal issues that arose indirectly through work.

Biros: I have no idea where my pens have come from! I haven't bought one for 20 years, but I've accidentally more than 100

Mileage: I always rounded up. I did this to compensate for my poor record keeping, and ensure I wasn't out of pocket. I did very few personal miles so I couldn't have fiddled it more than a few pounds if I tried because I'd be claiming for more than the clock said!

Overtime: I've rounded up to the next hour a few times. I actually did this because I got a telling off from our accounts department that they didn't like "funny numbers" and I sure as hell wasn't rounding down!

I don't think I've ever used the office printer or photocopier for personal use. This is so much more expensive than people think, partly because it happens so often. Even in a relatively small office, personal usage can quickly run into hundreds of pounds. That's especially true for colour, and yet I've seen someone at a school run off 100 colour copies of something personal without batting an eyelid. That was back when it was almost £1 a copy.

Big stuff? I've raided the office skip and come away with loads of stuff over the 20 years I've been working. It all seemed like a good idea at the time, but now most of it is in the garage waiting for me to "recycle" it. The best thing I ever raided was my very first 14" VGA colour monitor. I'd been using a 7" green screen until then. I still have the damned thing, plugged into the PS2 it came with. I still have the 7" for that matter, plugged into my Electron...

Thanks JJ, I've changed it.

Alun, you're on it. People are quick to judge. Let he who is without sin............

Out of interest, how many people have fiddled more than they voted for? I bet it's half of you

The argument is why he claimed it as an expense. According to their expenses rule book:



(My emboldening of the key phrase.)

To my reading, and from a higher moral standpoint, that covers reasonable travel, accommodation and sustenance expenses. Not repairing broken pipes, cleaning moats or lavish furnishings.

Me? Well, I can't claim to be whiter than white. Like Alan I'm self employed, so there's a limit to what I can get away with now. In previous lives, I guess I've absconded with a bit of stationery here and there, but nothing more than that. I use bandwidth in the Bat Cave, with Batman's blessing, and use the phone with permission. Otherwise, I live within my means.

Being my own boss makes embezzling money very tricky. I don't tolerate that kind of crap from myself.

None for me, mainly because I don't get an expenses allowance.

Doesn't stop you driving off with the odd Bic Biro, stapler, secretary, file server, transit van or whatever you can stash in the car

I steal the odd pen... though it's usually revenge/karma/whatever for someone stealing mine...