Don't call the fire brigade...

[Gob]

they are already listening in...

A 999 call handler on sick leave had a tracking device placed on her car by a private detective hired by her bosses.



Anthea Orchard, 35, said West Yorkshire Fire Service (WYFS) began monitoring her after she was signed off work with stress over fears she was moonlighting.

She said bosses suspected she was using the time to run her part-time balloon decorating business.

WYFS has refused to comment but the regional Fire Brigades Union said it was aware of at least one similar case.

Mrs Orchard was signed off work by a doctor with stress and hyperthyroidism last November, soon after returning from 12 months' maternity leave.

Four days after she was signed off, she began receiving calls from people purportedly offering her work, which she turned down.
'Bad dream'

The mother-of-two, from Denholme Gate, Bradford, said she traced the number and discovered it was a private investigator.

"I immediately thought that it was work and got in touch with my Fire Brigade Union representative and they started making inquiries.

"Work denied it all. They said that they were not authorising any such actions."

A tracking device was found under her car on 11 November, she said.

Mrs Orchard has now left her job with a £11,000 payout after signing a "compromise agreement" in which she agreed not to take the service to court for human rights violations over "unnecessary surveillance or invasion into privacy and family life".

"It feels like a bad dream and I've been really ill as a result," she said.

West Yorkshire Fire Service has declined to comment.

Fire Brigades Union brigade secretary David Williams said he knows of at least one other case where similar tactics have been used against a West Yorkshire Fire Service employee.

He said: "To go to an outside agency and instruct them and allow them to put tracking devices on a family car is nothing short of scandalous.

"I'm so really disappointed in a brigade that is supposed to be an investor in people and will make great play on the awards it has received but, at the same time, will go to these lengths."

[Lord Jim]

I'm a little confused....

Why is a government agency hiring a private detective?

[Scooter]

It's done here all the time to check up on people on worker's comp or disability insurance. They've been known to follow people around but I've never heard them putting tracking devices on anyone's car.

[rubato]

HyPERthyroid?

I don' think so.


Yrs,
Rubato

[Gob]

Why?

[MajGenl.Meade]

Why'd they need a tracking device? They could have just followed the gouges in the road made by that tow hook. That photo deserves to have a "caption this" thread all of its own.

[oldr_n_wsr]

There's a big scandal going on with the LIRR/MTA (forgot which entity) about disability claims. A doctor and two consultants (who used to work for the LIRR/MTA) were just convicted of diagnosing and showing workers how to correctly word their applications to get disability payments even though nothing was wrong with them. Many people scammed the system and are either pleaing down for cooperation with the investigation or being tried for fraud. Millions of dollars were scammed.

Private investigators are used a lot. We had PI parking on our block. I confronted him as it was a car not usually parked on the block and the guy would put newspapers covering his side windows and you could see him with a camera. He told me he was a PI but wouldn't say who/what he was investigating.

I am guessing he was checking out my new neighbor (new at the time) who was out on disability (don't know what he did nor where he worked) with a herniated disc in his back and a double hernia in the front. The guy really can't do anything physical, but I guess his (ex?)employers are checking on that.

[Jarlaxle]

Why?

Hyperthyroid speeds up the metabolism. Someone with that has high blood pressure, a racing pulse, and tends to burn off weight. (My mother, who was never anything resembling "large", had it and lost three sizes in two months.)

HYPOthyroid is the opposite.

[Guinevere]

I'm a little confused....

Why is a government agency hiring a private detective?

Just recommended that a client do that very thing, for a, well lets just say public safety official, on injury leave > 6 months, who suddenly has a whole new injury.

[Gob]

Why?

Hyperthyroid speeds up the metabolism. Someone with that has high blood pressure, a racing pulse, and tends to burn off weight. (My mother, who was never anything resembling "large", had it and lost three sizes in two months.)

HYPOthyroid is the opposite.

Yep, but, how does rubato know that woman does not have hyperthyroidism? Hyperthyroidism may be asymptomatic, and something like 10% of people with hyperthyroidism gain weight.

[Jarlaxle]

If she has HYPERthyroid, the chance of her being a whale is minimal. With HYPOthyroid, it's likely.

[Lord Jim]

Yep, but, how does rubato know that woman does not have hyperthyroidism? Hyperthyroidism may be asymptomatic, and something like 10% of people with hyperthyroidism gain weight.

Well that gives rube a 90% chance of being right...

Come on, when was the last time he had anything like those odds on being right?