Brighton station trouble

[portslade seagull]

**** the RMT!

The RMT and Southern Rail are both as bad as each other. It's like children having an argument

 

[theboybilly]

Because Southern are the most incompetent company in the country would be my strongest guess?

You'd better believe it. As an ex-employee I could give you loads of examples but I'll just share this one with you all:

It's the evening of the all-German Champions League Final at Wembley and loads of fans have late night/early morning flights home from Gatwick Airport. Southern, even then, were having troubles running a service so by midnight there was pandemonium on the concourse at Victoria Station. Lots of Gatwick Expresses had been cancelled too. Southern are now in a panic...no train has left the station towards the airport for ages but they found the stock and have drivers ready to run the 00:32 (as a 10-car service) But no, that would be too simple. Some bright spark decides it would be a good idea to split the 10 coaches into 2x5 cars and run one at 00:32 and the other at 00:45. We in the messroom were gobsmacked when the call came through for somebody to split the train. Off goes one of my mates and splits the train. In the meantime said 'bright spark' reconsiders and wants things back as they were. Fine - except now the coupling between the trains doesn't want to play any more and the two units can't be reattached. So they just run a packed 5-car at 00:32 (edit: by the time things got sorted it was well gone 1 o'clock by the time the train left). The other 5 coaches can't go as they are deemed defective. My mate (who split the train) came back into the messroom and when asked how things were going said 'there are 2,000 Germans on platform 14 scratching their heads as to how they managed to lose two World Wars'. I near fell of my seat laughing.

 

[B-right-on]

The atmosphere was great with both sets of fans have a singalong, probably helped by the steel band playing at the station ( YMCA on a near loop, good choice! )

You obvously we're with the complete bunch of p!sshead @rseholes that were throwing the usual 'gay' abuse at Brighton fans, flicking the V's when we started singing and general being abusive d!ckheads. Heard one f@t ***k next to me saying that he started off in the pub at 10:30am this morning to get here (eh?) and it was 7:15pm and he was going to miss kick off, as he downed yet another can of beer from the 4 pack in his hand.

I was with my Mrs and she felt very intimidated by them. Not felt like that since the last Millwall home game.

 

[BN9 BHA]

Friday night. Across the Southern network. You know, the one on which guards are striking over a dispute? The dispute which, in totally unrelated scenes, has led to a surge in staff sickness. Do try and keep up, there are plenty of threads on here about it

Are you really that THICK ? You do know making such UNTRUE statements are libellous ?

Ernest, if you are retired from the railways how do you know so many facts?
How do you know for a FACT that not one person didn't not turn up for work because they were sick on Friday?

 

[B-right-on]

You'd better believe it. As an ex-employee I could give you loads of examples but I'll just share this one with you all:

It's the evening of the all-German Champions League Final at Wembley and loads of fans have late night/early morning flights home from Gatwick Airport. Southern, even then, were having troubles running a service so by midnight there was pandemonium on the concourse at Victoria Station. Lots of Gatwick Expresses had been cancelled too. Southern are now in a panic...no train has left the station towards the airport for ages but they found the stock and have drivers ready to run the 00:32 (as a 10-car service) But no, that would be too simple. Some bright spark decides it would be a good idea to split the 10 coaches into 2x5 cars and run one at 00:32 and the other at 00:45. We in the messroom were gobsmacked when the call came through for somebody to split the train. Off goes one of my mates and splits the train. In the meantime said 'bright spark' reconsiders and wants things back as they were. Fine - except now the coupling between the trains doesn't want to play any more and the two units can't be reattached. So they just run a packed 5-car at 00:32 (edit: by the time things got sorted it was well gone 1 o'clock by the time the train left). The other 5 coaches can't go as they are deemed defective. My mate (who split the train) came back into the messroom and when asked how things were going said 'there are 2,000 Germans on platform 14 scratching their heads as to how they managed to lose two World Wars'. I near fell of my seat laughing.

Lol, says it all. Incompetence and stupidity, the main 2 criteria to get a management job at Southern.

 

[BN9 BHA]

you know you might get a bit further if you cut out the insult and derision and explained the details to people who might miss a point or two.

This 100%.
He struggles with this, that's why he is not taken seriously.

 

[bhanutz]

This 100%.
He struggles with this, that's why he is not taken seriously.

A very bitter man springs to mind!

 

[BN9 BHA]

A very bitter man springs to mind!

Sounds like a spoiled five year old.
Can't answer a straight question without calling people stupid, bet he wouldn't do it in the pub.

 

[bhanutz]

Sounds like a spoiled five year old.
Can't answer a straight question without calling people stupid, bet he wouldn't do it in the pub.

Just shows his complete lack of knowledge and integrity on the subject!

 

[thedonkeycentrehalf]

Did anyone here the woman from SASTA on BBC Sussex this evening trying to defend their actions? I only caught the end of the interview but when pressed about whether this would happen again in the future she seemed to say that they would review their commitment to the club for evening games as they do not have the 'flexibility' to run the services for the football matches. No direct blame for the unions although she did say that they did not get the number of staff needed to work rest days.

If Barber was listening to this, then their meeting this week could be interesting.

 

[El Presidente]

Last Friday was the worst I've seen it due to Southern being so incompetent.

I was in need of a dump, in hindsight should have gone at the pub. When I joined the queue at Brighton station I was touching cloth, by the time I boarded the train I was touching socks.

 

[dazzer6666]

Last Friday was the worst I've seen it due to Southern being so incompetent.

I was in need of a dump, in hindsight should have gone at the pub. When I joined the queue at Brighton station I was touching cloth, by the time I boarded the train I was touching socks.

Hopefully only your own socks

 

[Green Cross Code Man]

Did anyone here the woman from SASTA on BBC Sussex this evening trying to defend their actions? I only caught the end of the interview but when pressed about whether this would happen again in the future she seemed to say that they would review their commitment to the club for evening games as they do not have the 'flexibility' to run the services for the football matches. No direct blame for the unions although she did say that they did not get the number of staff needed to work rest days.

If Barber was listening to this, then their meeting this week could be interesting.

As the planning permission depended upon the railway service being the major mode of transport for our games, where on earth would that leave us?

 

[sydney]

Did anyone here the woman from SASTA on BBC Sussex this evening trying to defend their actions? I only caught the end of the interview but when pressed about whether this would happen again in the future she seemed to say that they would review their commitment to the club for evening games as they do not have the 'flexibility' to run the services for the football matches. No direct blame for the unions although she did say that they did not get the number of staff needed to work rest days.

If Barber was listening to this, then their meeting this week could be interesting.

utter bollox......why not put an expanded fixture list up in all the staff rooms and canvas for staff to fill the jobs on the trains for that particular shift......as a total outsider here it is quite obvious what the problem is ......they are running on an almost critically short staff list as it is and the unions will not allow drivers and guards to work more than a certain amount of hours per week citing "safety concerns".........the administration is trying to screw a profit out of the rail system by running on critically low staffing numbers but the over bearing fact would appear to be that system is being run by complete ,incompetent idiots.......i have no inside knowledge and live on the other side of the world but to me it seems quite obvious.

 

[sydney]

Last Friday was the worst I've seen it due to Southern being so incompetent.

I was in need of a dump, in hindsight should have gone at the pub. When I joined the queue at Brighton station I was touching cloth, by the time I boarded the train I was touching socks.

terrible planning on your part there.......i always carry a clip seal bag in my wallet for such occasions.

 

[Mellor 3 Ward 4]

Our Ref: HSR/4/5
21st November 2016
Ian Prosser
HM Chief Inspector of Railways
ORR
One Kemble Street
London
WC2B 4AN
Dear Ian
FALMER - SOUTHERN – SERIOUS SAFETY CONCERNS & FAILURE TO PREPARE & PLAN
I write again over the failure of Southern to deliver a service that is safe for passengers to use. The scenario that developed at Brighton and Falmer railway stations on Friday night, 18th November, for the Brighton & Hove Albion V Aston Villa football game is quite simply unacceptable and is creating serious issues relating to the safety of passengers and workers who are doing so much to ensure that a service is maintained. Southern have a duty to ensure that passengers are safe in their during their interaction with the railway in terms of access to stations and their onward journey unfortunately clear evidence is showing that it is not.
Despite public investment, following concerns raised by RMT over Health and Safety issues at Falmer, where platforms have been extended, signals re-sighted, improved signage and barriers at ramp ends, Southern have failed to use those improvements for the benefit of passengers. They constantly fail to utilise the opportunity for that increased capacity and, as we observed on Friday evening, they operate with 3 car trains that will not carry the number of fans in the time/space available to them.
This is causing serious safety concerns and it is only a matter of time before we have wholesale public disturbances, with railway employees being on the front line of the anger that GTR / Southern are wholly responsible for creating.
On Friday there were at least 11 driver duties and at least 8 guard duties left uncovered. Most of the guard jobs were late turns and this would have covered the evening football match. It calls again into question, just what are Southern management doing to ensure a reliable and safe railway is in place and working and ensuring that their own staff and employees are safe whilst doing their duty?
It leads me to ask several questions about what Southern are doing in relation to organising for events across their network. They were well aware that the crowd for the game was going to be larger than usual.
• Did they plan enough skilled staff to deal and cope with that situation; was there enough R.N.O.’s, B.T.P., Barrier Security and Managers available before, during and after the football match?
• Were the Southern management aware of the post match difficulties and issues? If so what did they do to alleviate them after the match? The ground capacity is 30,750 and Friday’s match attracted an attendance of 30,107. We believe that at least 30% of fans utilise the railway and Southern would need to have plans in place under their Safety Certificate for their safe travel. These fans would be on platforms late into the night following a highly charged competitive and challenging football match?
• Were sufficient train crew in place to move the large numbers of expected fans between locations to Falmer?
• Was sufficient stock available to ensure capacity was available to move the fans?
• Was an emergency plan in place should there be an accident, train delays, sickness, incident or any other serious football related issue as we saw over the weekend with floodlight failure ensuring that games finished much later than expected ?
I am certain that there are other questions waiting to be asked, not least from observations and comments made by fans to Southern/GTR through the press and social media. I know that comments were made at Falmer station by stranded passengers who were calling for the army to be brought in and seeking directions for walking along the tracks back home after the game was finished.
This is serious and unprecedented in recent times and things must change. I ask you to undertake an immediate investigation and report the findings back to me upon completion, and further support my demand that GTR halt their implementation of DOO. Please see the link below for additional report from fans.

http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/fan-sleeps-amex-stadium-amid-12205617

Yours sincerely
Mick Cash
General Secretary

It's a pretty good letter, and raises some serious questions that Southern need to answer, it's clear that Management cannot manage.

Shame he has to slip in DOO at the end, as Friday's fiasco had nothing to do with that. Also he seems more intent on protecting his staff than travelling customers.

Both sides are far from blameless here.

 

[Bry Nylon]

utter bollox......why not put an expanded fixture list up in all the staff rooms and canvas for staff to fill the jobs on the trains for that particular shift......as a total outsider here it is quite obvious what the problem is ......they are running on an almost critically short staff list as it is and the unions will not allow drivers and guards to work more than a certain amount of hours per week citing "safety concerns".........the administration is trying to screw a profit out of the rail system by running on critically low staffing numbers but the over bearing fact would appear to be that system is being run by complete ,incompetent idiots.......i have no inside knowledge and live on the other side of the world but to me it seems quite obvious.

I think it is fairly clear that Brighton home games are being used as high-profile events to deliver a non-service at short notice. This is part of a strategy in the union's battle with the employers and we are caught in the middle.

Expect more 'sudden' staff absences next time we play at home in the evening.

 

[BN9 BHA]

I think it is fairly clear that Brighton home games are being used as high-profile events to deliver a non-service at short notice. This is part of a strategy in the union's battle with the employers and we are caught in the middle.

Expect more 'sudden' staff absences next time we play at home in the evening.

Ernest will be along to add you to his STUPID list

 

[Soulman]

I think it is fairly clear that Brighton home games are being used as high-profile events to deliver a non-service at short notice. This is part of a strategy in the union's battle with the employers and we are caught in the middle.

Expect more 'sudden' staff absences next time we play at home in the evening.

Spot on. As i stated earlier i managed to speak to a Southern Rail worker after the trains westbound from Brighton were cancelled. I asked why the service was not running and why the trains were so poor without prior notice. He said that the service had not been cut but that many staff had phoned in sick. So yes, planned disruption, max annoyance/ impact.

 

[Soulman]

Ernest will be along to add you to his STUPID list

Not bothered, i am on a more important STUPID list.