public discount for cairngorm funicular

Wed, May 21, 2008

Not sure how to take this request for the public to come and clean up Cairngom. On the one hand, it’s an admirable call to arms for members of the public to come and spend the day cleaning up the litter on the slopes of Cairngorm.

On the other hand, it’s such a brass neck, I don’t really know how to take it. At face value, this is the situation. Cairngorm Mountain have just been taken over by HIE, a public body, so the funicular is now in public hands and will be funded in part by public money. The ski and railway are separate but it seems that both will be taken into public ownership. However, at the moment, they are a private setup.

The skiing season is now over and most of the staff have left, which means there aren’t enough people around to clean up the mess that 63,000 skiers have made during the winter. The solution? Get the public to come in and clean up the mess. This despite Cairngorm Mountain threatening to start charging for car parking.

So not only has Cairngorm Mountain been given public money to build the funicular railway, been bought out with public money and attempted to shaft the public with car parking charges, they’re now saying to the public, “there’s no-one here to clean up the mess. You do it!”.

Shall we come and wipe your arse while we’re at it?