Mod Staff Run Up £40,000 Speaking Clock Bill.

[anotheoldgit]

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/time-for-a-change-as-mod-staff-run-up-40000-speaking-clock-bill-8782535.html

Why when the accurate time can so easily be obtained by the click of a mouse button, does the cash strapped MOD need to spend this amount of money dialling up the talking clock?

[mikey4444]

The mind boggles AOG.

[Zacs-Master]

Bizarre and slightly worrying.

[Prudie]

I knew this would come up. Complete garbage in my opinion, either a fiddle by BT or the DM. I work for the MOD and don't believe anyone rings the speaking clock. For starters everyone has the time on their desktop and we do still have clocks on the walls.

[anotheoldgit]

Prudie

/// I knew this would come up. Complete garbage in my opinion, either a fiddle by BT or the DM. ///

I know the Daily Mail boringly get accused on a regular basis on this site, but how can this possibly be a fiddle by that paper, seeing that the link to this story was by the Independent.

I understand now how some MOD workers make mistakes, such as this talking clock fiasco.

[Prudie]

I actually like reading the Mail but I can't think for the life of me what situation would require staff to ring up for the time.

[Old_Geezer]

More idiocy from those paid by the public purse ? Do those job interviewing always pick applicants unlikely to be a threat to their position ?

[LazyGun]

Seems a tad harsh to label public service employees "thick", if the reason for the bill was due to a technical error through a system glitch, although you might want to question just how quick they are to pick up on expenditure issues in the accounts department.

[Old_Geezer]

It was just the monitoring that failed to pick it up wasn't it ?
The folk making the calls were presumably doing so deliberately.
Not that I went to the link, just the OP.

[LazyGun]

I might have misread the article then, O_G.

"The MoD said: "A ban was introduced to our newest telephone network, but due to a technical error with an environmental monitoring system there has been some inadvertent spending on the speaking clock which has now been stopped."

I took that as meaning the "technical error" was some sort of system glitch resulting in the speaking clock being called automatically.

Does seem extraordinarily odd in this day and age for employees to regularly need to phone the speaking clock in order to check the time.

[Hypognosis]

Yes, if the boss is heading in your direction with a case file 8" thick, you ring the speaking clock and make out that you're deep in conversation with an important client.

:o)

[Mattk]

Utterly bizarre. I haven't rung the speaking clock since the 80's!

[Gromit]

The Metropolitan Police ran up a bill of over £35,000 by ringing the speaking clock 115,000 times. Other police forces have also run up similar bills.

Most phones display accurate time and can be calibrated with the world clock. Phoning the service so many times is a gross waste of money.

[Gromit]

Police Services seem very reluctant to provide information on their spending on the speaking clock. Freedom of Information requests often take a long time and the police try to evade giving the information.

https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/cost_of_directory_enquiries_and

[Orderlimit]

I can understand the police using the BT-clock Gromit, as it is still considered and accepted as best evidence to confirm any time differences displayed on 3rd party CCTV terminals when that info is crucial and or required by the courts etc.



use the speaking clock as best and accepted evidence to confirm any time difference on 3rd party CCTV terminals, usually only in the more serious investigations when timing

[LazyGun]

@Orderlimit - Your last post sounds interesting, but I am not quite sure I understand quite how the speaking clock time is being used in your post. Could you elaborate a bit further, or give an example for clarity?

[boxtops]

LOL, I just saw the heading, I thought you meant the Mods on here..... :-)

[Prudie]

As a complete bit of side trivia the Ministry of Defence has deemed that the correct way to abbreviate is MOD not MoD.

[Orderlimit]

Sorry, LG I got side tracked when I started writing etc, hence the mess of my previous post !.

As an example, Police investigating a serious / major crime. CCTV cameras are identified in 20 different locations and 4 detectives are sent out to 5 locations each to download and seize the recordings.

Due to human error and laziness, most cctv terminals do not have the correct time programmed into the system which is usually displayed on the screen of subsequent recordings. To ensure a consistent and accurate way to determine any discrepancies each detective will ring the BT speaking clock and compare it to the cctv terminal they are currently working on then evidence this information in an official witness statement. Furthermore, the cctv footage from the 20 different locations can later be synchronized for accuracy using one trusted method as opposed to each individual detective using their own individual methods (sun-dials etc).

This should phase out soon as more and more officers are being issued with portable computer devices that are all connected to the same operating system.

There are numerous other situations but hopefully this one example helps. I am sure you can appreciate the need for accurate timing as evidence and putting the pieces together in serious crime investigations.

[LazyGun]

@ OrderLimit I can appreciate the need for accurate timing when looking at evidence, OL. Thank you for the elaboration.

And again, should so I am clear I understand - the detectives investigating the time stamp information for some downloaded footage would be able to apply a correcting factor based around the time the CCTV is currently reporting, and the actual time derived from the speaking clock?