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July 24th, 2013

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Petrol stations holding customer’s money too long

When a customer fills up at an unmanned petrol station using a debit card, the station often takes extra money out of the customer’s account as collateral. Some customers have had as much as 500 kroner put in reserve on a 100 kroner sale. Problems arise when the stations take as much as three weeks to put the money back into a customer’s account. The practice is under investigation by the consumer advocacy ombudsman, who said that it is wrong that customers have to wait so long to have access to their own money. The stations say that responsibility for the collateral practice lies with the digital payment service NETS. – TV2 News

Exports creating jobs at home and abroad

Danish export companies have become significantly more optimistic and are promising both more jobs and more investment in the near future. Companies are currently experiencing so much momentum that they are planning to add staff and make greater investments. The results of a Ramboll poll done for Jyllands-Posten newspaper are considerably more optimistic that those found in a similar poll taken just six months ago. One in five export companies say they will be adding staff abroad and 43 percent of the companies polled said that they plan to hire employees in Denmark in the coming year. – Jyllands-Posten

Council planned on having jobless tear down dangerous buildings

In an effort to save money, Glostrup Council intended to have 20 people on unemployment benefits placed in a work project involving the tearing down of two old daycare centres that are filled with dangerous materials such as asbestos and PCBs. Asbestosis, cancer and respiratory problems are just some of the risks associated with asbestos and the council's plan triggered fierce criticism from unions, employers and medical experts.The 20 potential workers were told that if they did not take the job, they would lose their benefits. Demolishing the daycare centres would have cost the council 1.5 million kroner, but the cheap labour would have nearly halved the price. The outcry has caused the council to put the project on hold until the legal and health ramifications can be fully assessed.  – Politiken

Productivity report filled with errors

A report on improving the efficiency of transport and postal services from the government's productivity commission, Produktivitetskommission, is riddled with factual errors. The commission is tasked with streamlining and cutting costs in the public sector, but correspondence between the Transport Ministry and the commission uncovered by Berlingske newspaper suggests that the report is so filled with errors and misinformation that any savings are hard to find. For example, the commission concluded that Danish railway charges for freight transport are twice as high as they are in Germany, when in fact they are half as much, according to the Transport Ministry. The commission also suggested that the government sell its interest in Post Denmark, apparently unaware that Post Denmark merged with Sweden’s Posten to create Post Nord in 2009. – Berlingske

Farm worker killed by tractor

A 55-year-old farm worker was killed when he was crushed between a tractor and baling wagon late yesterday. The accident happened while the man was working on a farm in Brovst in northern Jutland. “It appears that he may have been separating the wagon from the tractor when the tractor rolled back and pinned him against the baler,” said North Jutland Police spokesperson Aage Pedersen. A neighbouring farmer found the man and called paramedics, who tried in vain to revive him. The accident is being investigated  – DR News