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A tale of creative accounting from His Majesty's Armed Forces 

16 November, 2024

This podcast is spoken by Tudor Rickards from content which has appeared on several internet sites but without attribution.

Today I found the tale replicated in the correspondence to the Guardian’ s quick crossword, supplied  by the puzzler Bath Osprey. I would welcome any suggestions of its origins:

Lt. Colonel Robert Maclaren retired from the British Army in 2001 after a long fulfilling career. On the day that he retired he received a letter from the Personnel Department of the Ministry of Defence setting out details of his pension and, in particular, the tax-free ‘lump sum’ award, (based upon completed years of service), that he would receive in addition to his monthly pension.

The letter read:
“Dear Lt. Colonel Maclaren,
We write to confirm that you retired from the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards on 1st March 2001 at the rank of Lt Colonel, having been commissioned into the British Army at Edinburgh Castle as a 2nd Lieutenant on 1st February 1366.
Accordingly your lump sum payment, based on years served, has been calculated as £68,500. You will receive a cheque for this amount in due course.
Yours sincerely,
Army Paymaster”

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