Barber On The Warpath Over Train Disruption, Doesn't Pull Any Punches!

[El Presidente]

Aside from the dodgy grammar, this is why I struggle to side with Barber. He can't run a service capable of providing customers with a beer within ten minutes. I was more miffed by that than the trains on Friday.

Have you been to any football grounds which have similar levels of attendance and which provide instant service?

 

[Peter Grummit]

Barber responds to SASTA. Just a brief acknowledgement by Paul's standards....

http://www.seagulls.co.uk/news/article/2016-17/paul-barber-southern-rail-3430894.aspx

he missed his vocation as a headteacher.

edit: sorry, too slow

 

[ManOfSussex]

Barber responds to SASTA. Just a brief acknowledgement by Paul's standards....

http://www.seagulls.co.uk/news/article/2016-17/paul-barber-southern-rail-3430894.aspx

he missed his vocation as a headteacher.

edit: sorry, too slow

Like it.

Albion's CEO has responded to an apology from Southern.


After Friday night's rail chaos, the club received an emailed apology from Southern Rail's Passenger Services Director Angie Doll. Chief executive Paul Barber has responded as follows, on behalf of the club and its fans who were affected. The club's response has also been circulated to local MPs and national government.

Dear Angie,

Thank you for your email earlier today.

In response, please let me start by saying I do not have any experience of running a train company. Neither am I a politician overseeing a region’s or a nation’s transport infrastructure. Furthermore, I am neither privy to the finer points of your operating agreement with Government nor indeed your ongoing dispute with the RMT. I fully appreciate that these are complex matters.

Furthermore, we have been very patient over many months. We haven’t taken sides in your dispute with the RMT. And, until today, despite damage to our business and to our matchday operations, already running to hundreds of thousands of pounds in additional cost and lost revenue, we have largely kept our counsel on the issues we have faced.

However, I do consider it to be a basic courtesy and a responsibility for the senior management of any organisation to contact a major customer when the short-term or ongoing supply of a critical service to them is interrupted, limited or, in the case of Friday evening, non existent.

So, quite frankly, given the issues we have faced over such a long period, I am absolutely astonished that this is the first time you have contacted me directly. I am even more astounded that your chief executive still hasn’t once bothered to call, email, or write to me – or to any of my colleagues - despite many, many months of poor service culminating in Friday evening’s shocking events.

It also worries me greatly that your organisation only now seems to have grasped quite how serious Friday evening's events actually were - and indeed could have been. What happened not only massively inconvenienced and caused great stress for many thousands of our fans, and those of Aston Villa, more importantly, it also seriously endangered their safety. The safety of our supporters - many of whom attended Friday’s match with children, elderly or infirm relatives and friends - is paramount to us and it is this issue that concerns me most of all. And today, with my patience finally failing me, we have outlined those serious concerns, and the flaws in your company’s handling of Friday’s situation, to the media, to local MPs and also, through them and directly, to Government.

I am very pleased to hear that you will be conducting a full investigation into Friday night’s events. I look forward to hearing the outcome. My sense is that what has been reported thus far is a long way from what actually happened and, if it wasn’t for the swift actions of our staff, I can assure you that the outcome could well have been a whole lot worse, in many respects, for all concerned.

I am also encouraged to hear you say that you wish to meet us and to look at how we can work together better going forward. I know that this will be welcome news for our supporters, who have lost so much faith in your services in recent months, and for our operations staff who, along with our other transport partners, continue to bear the brunt of so many issues with rail services.

Finally, as a general point, I do not accept that making entirely innocent fare-paying customers - many of whom have little or no other choice as to how they get to and from work or, in our case, to and from football matches - the victims of a long-running dispute is justifiable in any circumstances.

It’s 1970s industrial relations and it's as embarrassing to witness, as it is disruptive and damaging to people’s lives. Southern, the RMT, and Government appear equally responsible for the poor service we have received over so many months, for the failure to resolve differences, for a lack of foresight as to the impact this dispute is having on our city and the businesses within it, and for the lack accountability to many tens of thousands of customers, including this football club.

Thank you, once again, for writing to me. I look forward to hearing the outcome of your investigation and to meeting soon.

Yours sincerely,
Paul Barber

Read more at http://www.seagulls.co.uk/news/arti...outhern-rail-3430894.aspx#XH5ZFIKZDpP0RTLU.99

 

[portslade seagull]

Sadly two sides with archaic views with regards to this issue. This will not be sorted soon

 

[Blue Valkyrie]

It'll go on for years.

The club need to not pay another penny to Southern and start again when a new franchise operator eventually takes over.

 

[El Presidente]

It'll go on for years.

The club need to not pay another penny to Southern and start again when a new franchise operator eventually takes over.

Southern are indifferent as to whether they receive any money from the club though.

Even if Southern lose the licence, their replacements will still be implementing the government's agenda, so no improvement for the fans.

 

[Bry Nylon]

Chief executive Paul Barber has responded as follows...

Dear Angie,

Thank you for your email earlier today.

In response, please let me start by saying I do not have any experience of running a train company. Neither am I a politician overseeing a region’s or a nation’s transport infrastructure. Furthermore, I am neither privy to the finer points of your operating agreement with Government nor indeed your ongoing dispute with the RMT. I fully appreciate that these are complex matters.

Furthermore, we have been very patient over many months. We haven’t taken sides in your dispute with the RMT. And, until today, despite damage to our business and to our matchday operations, already running to hundreds of thousands of pounds in additional cost and lost revenue, we have largely kept our counsel on the issues we have faced.

However, I do consider it to be a basic courtesy and a responsibility for the senior management of any organisation to contact a major customer when the short-term or ongoing supply of a critical service to them is interrupted, limited or, in the case of Friday evening, non existent.

So, quite frankly, given the issues we have faced over such a long period, I am absolutely astonished that this is the first time you have contacted me directly. I am even more astounded that your chief executive still hasn’t once bothered to call, email, or write to me – or to any of my colleagues - despite many, many months of poor service culminating in Friday evening’s shocking events.

It also worries me greatly that your organisation only now seems to have grasped quite how serious Friday evening's events actually were - and indeed could have been. What happened not only massively inconvenienced and caused great stress for many thousands of our fans, and those of Aston Villa, more importantly, it also seriously endangered their safety. The safety of our supporters - many of whom attended Friday’s match with children, elderly or infirm relatives and friends - is paramount to us and it is this issue that concerns me most of all. And today, with my patience finally failing me, we have outlined those serious concerns, and the flaws in your company’s handling of Friday’s situation, to the media, to local MPs and also, through them and directly, to Government.

I am very pleased to hear that you will be conducting a full investigation into Friday night’s events. I look forward to hearing the outcome. My sense is that what has been reported thus far is a long way from what actually happened and, if it wasn’t for the swift actions of our staff, I can assure you that the outcome could well have been a whole lot worse, in many respects, for all concerned.

I am also encouraged to hear you say that you wish to meet us and to look at how we can work together better going forward. I know that this will be welcome news for our supporters, who have lost so much faith in your services in recent months, and for our operations staff who, along with our other transport partners, continue to bear the brunt of so many issues with rail services.

Finally, as a general point, I do not accept that making entirely innocent fare-paying customers - many of whom have little or no other choice as to how they get to and from work or, in our case, to and from football matches - the victims of a long-running dispute is justifiable in any circumstances.

It’s 1970s industrial relations and it's as embarrassing to witness, as it is disruptive and damaging to people’s lives. Southern, the RMT, and Government appear equally responsible for the poor service we have received over so many months, for the failure to resolve differences, for a lack of foresight as to the impact this dispute is having on our city and the businesses within it, and for the lack accountability to many tens of thousands of customers, including this football club.

Thank you, once again, for writing to me. I look forward to hearing the outcome of your investigation and to meeting soon.

Yours sincerely,
Paul Barber

**** me - she only emailed to say she didn't get a pound off her pint after the game last Friday..

 

[Blue Valkyrie]

Southern are indifferent as to whether they receive any money from the club though.

Even if Southern lose the licence, their replacements will still be implementing the government's agenda, so no improvement for the fans.

But why pay for a service that is not fit for purpose ?

Either use the money saved for carefully considered alternatives, or reduce ticket prices by the rail fraction of the transport levy.

 

[Stat Brother]

You can tell he's really angry...



...he's not wearing his mustard jumper.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Barber responds to SASTA. Just a brief acknowledgement by Paul's standards....

http://www.seagulls.co.uk/news/article/2016-17/paul-barber-southern-rail-3430894.aspx

The boy Barber's earning his keep on this one

Time to start clearing your desk Angie Doll. Nothing personal you understand, you're not the first, and you certainly won't be the last

 

[portlock seagull]

Can this not all be resolved by shooting everyone involved on both sides and starting afresh with bonuses for good work and bullets for service failures thereafter? Got to be worth a try at this stage, not as if anyone has come up with a better idea. Seriously. Who has a better resolution?! At least my way there's a clear plan, objective and deliverables Keep Ernest though. Hilda needs him

 

[Blue Valkyrie]

Can this not all be resolved by shooting everyone involved on both sides and starting afresh with bonuses for good work and bullets for service failures thereafter? Got to be worth a try at this stage, not as if anyone has come up with a better idea. Seriously. Who has a better resolution?! At least my way there's a clear plan, objective and deliverables Keep Ernest though. Hilda needs him

The Mussolini playbook might have its merits in this case I suppose.

 

[B-right-on]

Southern are indifferent as to whether they receive any money from the club though.

This. The "fat cats" at the top get paid no matter what, there is no incentive for providing a good service or penalty for providing a sh!te service and then the train staff also done give a monkeys what their actions cause because it is not them. Both are firmly entrenched in their views and at loggerheads. The Minister for (sh!tty) Transport needs to get his fat arse in gear and earn his Ministerial Bonuses and sort this out, for real.

 

[Lord Bracknell]

I'm not sure extra trains are in the contract the club has with Southern. I have nothing to back this up with though as I, like all of us, have no idea to who and how much goes to different providers.

I'm pretty sure no one involved in Lewes bonfire pays Southern for a service, but they put on extra trains regardless.

Extra trains are an ESSENTIAL part of the stadium travel plan, which is agreed by all the parties involved in getting people to or from events at the stadium. That group includes the train and bus operators and the Police, as well as the City Council. Pulling out of the deal isn't an option available to SASTA.

 

[Cheshire Cat]

yeah, but 4 days on zero communication

It probably took him four days to tone down the original draft into something more polite.

 

[Bry Nylon]

Any third parties looking to hire the stadium for concerts etc next summer will be thinking again and looking for alternative venues, I should imagine. Next summer is a long way off, but you wouldn't want to be booking a venue with this uncertainty over it when you could choose anywhere else in the country.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Extra trains are an ESSENTIAL part of the stadium travel plan, which is agreed by all the parties involved in getting people to or from events at the stadium. That group includes the train and bus operators and the Police, as well as the City Council. Pulling out of the deal isn't an option available to SASTA.

You'd like to think so. But currently there's not one single entity apart from members of the general public crowdfunding a judicial review through the courts that appears capable of making this ludicrous company and it's government paymasters accountable in any shape or form. Basically they've been given carte blanche to run amok and run services exactly as they see fit under no form of penalty whatsoever. So many failures by so many bodies whose sole raison d'etre is supposed to be monitoring these things and acting on behalf of the electorate they're supposed to represent.

 

[sir albion]

Absolutely spot on....Howmany games affected already this season with no trains at all for some.
It infuriates me that these bloody train companies can provide a piss poor service or no service and still get paid for it....We pay big money for this service and we've got no compensation or apology it seems....just takes the piss big time.
Why are they not fined?why are they not compensating us?

Just unacceptable and this includes the 1000's who travel to work via this diabolical service....The shareholders get paid for not providing a service and this is just beyond belief.Hope the club can rinse these twats and to get back what's owed.

 

[Mr Banana]

Have you been to any football grounds which have similar levels of attendance and which provide instant service?

Instant--------------
-----------------------
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ten minutes

 

[lethaldrizzle]

Anyone got any ideas for legal, non-violent things that one could do as an individual to inconvenience Southern, or any of their senior managers as individuals?