Rip-off News round-up. Our pick of the last week's media (Thu 16th August)

Thousands of rail passengers to be hit by 10 PER CENT increase on season tickets 
The government's rules allow train companies to raise prices 3% above the Retail Price Index (RPI) for July, estimated to be 2.7%, giving average fare increases of 5.7%. But the increase does not have to be "per ticket": glaring loopholes in the rules allow higher increases on some (i.e. popular) routes so long as smaller increases are made on other (i.e. not busy) routes. DAILY MAIL

The Bank of England governor urges bankers to learn from the selfless dedication of Team GB athletes and Olympics volunteers

In a humiliating rebuke Sir Mervyn King said: ‘As recent scandals have shown, banks could learn a thing or two about fair play from the Olympic movement. Again the financial sector has done us all a disservice in promoting the belief that massive financial compensation is necessary to motivate individuals.’ DAILY MAIL
("We have nothing to learn from them. The banking sector regularly wins more gongs, knighthoods and peerages than the whole of Team GB put together," puffed and wheezed one particularly fat cat.)

New Barclays chairman says all the mis-selling to consumers and businesses was "the consequence of not charging for bank accounts"
But critics say Sir David Walker is mistaken if he thinks charging for bank accounts mean bankers won't try other scams. Sir David is seen as a banking industry grandee. He has worked variously at the UK Treasury, the International Monetary Fund, the Bank of England and a host of commercial banks. TELEGRAPH

(..."but it is my time as chairman and chief executive of cloud cuckoo land that I remember most fondly and made me the man I am today," said Sir David.)

Claim by banks that banking is free is ridiculous, says Which?

"It is a complete myth that banking is free. Consumers pay over £9bn a year in fees and lost interest on their current accounts and the suggestion that if banks charged more they would stop mis-selling is completely ridiculous," said Richard Lloyd, Which? executive director. BBC NEWS

Forgotten your tax return? You'll be fined £1,200 this week
Half a million ordinary taxpayers will receive fines of at least £1,200 from HMRC this week. This could raise £600m for HMRC. People can appeal against it if they think they have a reasonable excuse for not sending in their tax return, such as a family illness or bereavement. TELEGRAPH
(Other reasonable excuses include "My wife lives in Monaco" and "I am Vodafone.")

Payday loan firm, MCO Capital, shut down because it chased victims of identify theft to repay the cash
Fraudsters impersonated more than 7,000 people and stole £1.5m from MCO Capital, which traded as Help Loan. This happened within a month of the launch of the business. Nevertheless, MCO Capital chased the innocent victims for the money. BBC NEWS
("Off to a bad start, we stuck to what we do best. Chasing innocent victims for money," said a spokesperson for the company)

National Audit Office accounts reveal government support for the banks reached £1.2 TRILLION at its peak
In March 2012, the total outstanding support stood at £228 billion, down from the total a year before of £456 billion and a peak of £1.2 trillion. The amount continues to vary according to how vulnerable banks are to collapse as market conditions change. NATIONAL AUDIT OFFICE

Google says it would pay more tax in UK if it was legally required to do so
Google's Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt blamed the Government's weak tax laws for the fact it paid just £8m corporation tax despite making more than £6bn in revenues in Britain in the six years to 2010. "If Britain changes its tax laws, we will pay taxes in accordance with those laws. I can't be clearer than that," he said. He justified Google's tax avoidance by pointing out that companies have a legal obligation to minimise tax and maximise shareholder return. "To go back to shareholders and say 'We looked at 200 countries but felt sorry for those British people so we want to [pay them more]' . . . there is probably some law against doing that," he said. TELEGRAPH

Standard Chartered pays £217m out-of-court settlement over Iran money laundering allegations
Weeks after the bank robustly denied the allegations, they agree to pay a fine. They therefore avoid another public dressing-down by the US regulators. Barclays has already been fined for similar breaches, and HSBC is under investigation. DAILY MAIL
("But no one goes to jail. Once again it's one rule for the banks and another for the rest of us," said the Mafia)