Crapita makes one L of a mistake

Capita Translation & Interpreting has made yet another linguistic cock-up, landing the taxpayer with a bill for £3,000 when asked to supply interpreters for a Lithuanian accused of stealing two bags for life worth 20p, according to Thursday’s Yorkshire Post.

Tadas Tarkutis was accused of stealing these low value items from Sainsbury’s in Scarborough and arrested. A Lithuanian interpreter was arranged to attend the police station, making a 120 miles round trip from Harrogate.

However, when Tarkutis appeared in Scarborough Magistrates Court the following morning the same interpreter was unavailable and Capita T&I arranged for a substitute – a Latvian interpreter who made a wasted 320 miles round trip from Rugby. Tarkutis was then remanded in custody overnight while a replacement interpreter was sought for the next day.

This time Capita T&I were able to supply a Lithuanian interpreter, Tarkutis admitted the crime and was jailed for 6 weeks breach of a suspended sentence.

One court source is reported by the Post as saying: “It was as if someone somewhere had just picked out a country that begins with ‘L’. It was ridiculous.”

Quite.

Capita describe as a company “you can rely on”. One can definitely rely on Capita to cock things up.

The Yorkshire Post’s reporter refers throughout the piece to the linguists involved as translators. He or she – should they happen to visit this blog – definitely needs to read my illustrated guide to the difference between the two.