Government abuse

Brickbat: Free Ride

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Ambulance drives down an Edinburgh street, blurred as if it's moving quickly. | Mino Surkala | Dreamstime.com
(Mino Surkala | Dreamstime.com)

The Scottish Ambulance Service fired Christopher Gallacher, a duty manager at West Centre in Glasgow, after finding he had an on-duty emergency dispatcher pick him and his family up at the airport after a vacation. According to a disciplinary tribunal, this happened on an evening when there were a "high number of calls" and patients were waiting for "lengthy periods of time." The dispatcher was away from his post for 45 minutes. Gallacher said he had assumed the man would use his break to pick him up.

Charles Oliver is a contributing editor at Reason.