Southern Rail STRIKE details

[albionite]

That's an understatement. Worth publishing on here I think...

I've just received this comment, which I reproduce here in its entirety: Hi David,
I have just seen your blog post on the current situation at southern rail and would like to clear up some confusion around the situation.i, as most of you commuters am extremely fed up of the company spun and lies and am looking for a platform to shed some light on he situation. I tried to comment but as a non gmail user I was unable to do so. You have my permission to post my email however if you chose to do so I want it posted in its entirety if that's ok. I am an employee of southern so would appreciate it if you would refrain from making my email address public.

I know the current situation is extremely infuriating but it needs to be looked at from two sides. firstly the current agreement between govia and the DFT.
This is in fact a management contract which differ's from every other agreement throughout the country. All other TOC's hold something called a franchise agreement. Everyone is different but essentially they r responsible for the day to day running of that network. They have specific requirements they have to meet but they generally make the decisions, however with govia's management agreement they have no control or make no decisions. All he terms, targets and and plans have been set out by the DFT. Govia are simply there to implement the changes.
This is unique and has occurred for one reason and one reason only. A test bed for the rest of the country.
In 2011 a report called the McNulty report was published sand set out a number of wide ranging proposals for cutting cost on he railways. Since then the DFT has been putting together a plan to 'streamline' costing on the railway. One of the major changes was to rid the network of guards. (Along with many other members of staff)
What we are seeing (along with arriva Wales and first scotrail) is the beginning of these changes. Many people have asked why MP's and media outlets have been so quite on the matter and as to why govia have no fear of losing the franchise. This is because they are purely the axemen. The DFT will not remove them as they want the company to be the face of the changes to avoid huge public objections aimed at the conservative government. The senior management are purely being told what to do. It's written in their agreement. I have been through the 668 pages of the agreement and they are given financial bonuses based on the inline notation of the changes. However only a freedom of information request will allow us to obtain the actual financial figures. The CEO Charles Horton was brought in to do a similar job (albeit in a smaller scale) at connex. Peter wilkinson speech was an insight into the DFT's and governments plans. It also per toy aligns with the plan to rid the country of unions.
After many failed attempts with filed bills both in the House of Parliament and House of Lords, the conservatives see this as a perfect opportunity to kill of the unions. No staff = no members = no unions.

Secondly you have to appreciate the serve lack of staffing and staff moral within the company. For years the franchise has relied upon staff working rest days to cover the basic timetable. It's estimated the company is operating at 80% staffing levels. Hence you have the current problem. The company has indeed removed rest day working from striking staff members causing the problems you are experiencing. This will unfortunately never change to conserve profits. They would rather be under staffed and pay overtime when needed then have the required number staff and have some being 'spare' when staff sickness/holiday levels are low. I can also confirm that morale is at an all time low. The pure nastiness and bullying from senior management has been on a level never experienced before.
I hope this has cleared up some issues and hopefully opens the eyes of many of the travelling public.
I hope you are able to spread this to as many people as possible.
Kind regards

If all that is true, then wow. Just wow.

All true plus more.

Several staff have already been suspended for writing on Facebook to what is going on so most are keeping their mouth shut. Why it's important for Aslef to win their court case on 27th of June.

Several middle managers have made up a contingency plan to keep the trains running to an acceptable standard with the staff that they have. Senior managers have told them to keep their noses out of it they will run a full service, full well knowing what a mess this will be.

Not sure to the reason to this but best guess is they want the service to be a shambles untill the public have had enough and turn their anger onto the staff.

 

[pasty]

Not sure to the reason to this but best guess is they want the service to be a shambles untill the public have had enough and turn their anger onto the staff.

If that's the case then they are failing miserably. If anything when this all started I was against the strikes, as I usually am, but the longer this goes on and the more information that is coming out, my opinion is definitely changing towards favouring the staff.

 

[AK74]

Would also explain why GTR's 18-page remedial plan has been redacted in 25 separate places on the following grounds:

Where text has been omitted from the document this is because the Director General Rail or Secretary of State has decided to exclude the text in accordance with the provisions within the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

And looking at said act, this is one of the justifications for exclusion:

Some exemptions relate to a particular type of information, for instance, information relating to government policy,

 

[Ernest]

If that's the case then they are failing miserably. If anything when this all started I was against the strikes, as I usually am, but the longer this goes on and the more information that is coming out, my opinion is definitely changing towards favouring the staff.

Some of us knew this from the start, it was always going to be the Government wanting to smash the unions and two of the most powerful, ASLEF & RMT were the ideal targets. The problem is that by doing so they have inconvenienced the public to such an extent that they will probably lose their war now

 

[yxee]

This is absurd. Who can help me write a letter my MP? any templates that incorporate all this info?

 

[Gwylan]

This is absurd. Who can help me write a letter my MP? any templates that incorporate all this info?

I see little point in writing to any Sussex MP (unless you're a constituent of Kyle or Lucas). As Private Eye and the above blog make out, GTR is acting on government orders so any Tory MP will simply parrot the things-will-get-better line. It will just be a waste of effort.

 

[albionite]

From private eye

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

I see little point in writing to any Sussex MP (unless you're a constituent of Kyle or Lucas). As Private Eye and the above blog make out, GTR is acting on government orders so any Tory MP will simply parrot the things-will-get-better line. It will just be a waste of effort.

Won't be a wasted effort if the Brexit vote goes the way of the Leave campaign (or goes pretty close) and a snap election is called before the end of the year, as has been bandied about. Then the Tory MPs will be fighting for their seats. Maybe worth reminding them of that scenario in any correspondence with them.

 

[ferris_ferrit]

Crossing currently on strike at Ferring, gates been down for about 15-20 minutes now. Still no train and im stuck on a bus! Grr

 

[thedonkeycentrehalf]

Farcial scenes at Victoria last night as trains to the south coast were delayed, and cancelled. Am seriously considering binning London nights out where I have to get a late train back on a week night, it's not worth the hassle. It's bad enough getting back to Brighton (only one train running between 10.30 and 1am last night) getting back to Eastbourne/Hastings/Littlehampton etc a complete nightmare.

The 00:05 from Victoria to Worthing is busy at the best of times, let alone when many services before it have been cancelled. Would I trust SASTA to run this service anyway? As much as I would trust Wifred Zaha not to fall over in the penalty box if I breathed in his presence!

As I said in an earlier post, this is exactly why I am flying from Southampton to Manchester and getting a cab each way to Southampton rather than using the train. After a full day working away, I have no desire to be stuck at Victoria / Gatwick / Haywards Heath late at night. I would probably end up getting a cab back home form Gatwick or the Heath anyway at this rate.

One question for those who know more about ticketing. If I book an advance ticket to say Liverpool through Southern and I miss my connection due to a SASTA cancellation, would Virgin let me on the next train or would I have to pay the difference and then try to claim it back from Southern?

 

[beorhthelm]

Not sure to the reason to this but best guess is they want the service to be a shambles untill the public have had enough and turn their anger onto the staff.

if staff strike this will only play into the hands of the company. the strategy presented relies on the unions acting to type. more unemotive infomation about whats being planned, much of which is in plain sight, and pressuring the MPs to follow up the cause would work better. i found out today the ticket office closures are still going ahead, the consultation was so short and no information afterward i assumed it was binned.

 

[albionite]

if staff strike this will only play into the hands of the company. the strategy presented relies on the unions acting to type. more unemotive infomation about whats being planned, much of which is in plain sight, and pressuring the MPs to follow up the cause would work better. i found out today the ticket office closures are still going ahead, the consultation was so short and no information afterward i assumed it was binned.

Pressure the MPs you say now why didn't anyone else think of that.

 

[Ernest]

The 00:05 from Victoria to Worthing is busy at the best of times, let alone when many services before it have been cancelled. Would I trust SASTA to run this service anyway? As much as I would trust Wifred Zaha not to fall over in the penalty box if I breathed in his presence!

As I said in an earlier post, this is exactly why I am flying from Southampton to Manchester and getting a cab each way to Southampton rather than using the train. After a full day working away, I have no desire to be stuck at Victoria / Gatwick / Haywards Heath late at night. I would probably end up getting a cab back home form Gatwick or the Heath anyway at this rate.

One question for those who know more about ticketing. If I book an advance ticket to say Liverpool through Southern and I miss my connection due to a SASTA cancellation, would Virgin let me on the next train or would I have to pay the difference and then try to claim it back from Southern?

Through booking say Brighton to Liverpool yes, ticket starting at Euston no

 

[Beach Hut]

Amusing journey change at Preston Park when travelling from Brighton to Shoreham tonight

 

[Gwylan]

Won't be a wasted effort if the Brexit vote goes the way of the Leave campaign (or goes pretty close) and a snap election is called before the end of the year, as has been bandied about. Then the Tory MPs will be fighting for their seats. Maybe worth reminding them of that scenario in any correspondence with them.

The trouble with that approach is the MPs around here - apart from Kirby (and possibly Henry Smith) could quite happily afford to write off a couple of thousand angry voters.They're in absolutely rock solid seats and know it. Much easier to toe the government line and wait for a possible ministerial job

 

[Cosmic Joker]

Last three trains from Barnham back to Chichester were all cancelled tonight. According to an off duty guard at the pub I was at at, hundreds of people at Barnham demanding taxis. Lucky I and my friends had bikes to get us home down the country lanes. Utter C* words doesn't even begin to cover it for southern/Govia senior management and the scumbags at DfT who are putting them up to this.

 

[Cosmic Joker]

One question for those who know more about ticketing. If I book an advance ticket to say Liverpool through Southern and I miss my connection due to a SASTA cancellation, would Virgin let me on the next train or would I have to pay the difference and then try to claim it back from Southern?

As [MENTION=1416]Ernest[/MENTION] said, if you are on a through ticket from a SASTA station then Virgin will sort you out for a later train. If you are on seperate tickets into and out of London then not, even if you have booked them at the same time with the same company. However, even if you are on the a through ticket and miss your connection from Euston, you can't just march onto your next train from Euston, you need to go to the ticket office at Euston, explain what has happened and get them to endorse your ticket for onward travel, even if this process means you end up on a later train out of Euston than otherwise.

I've had experience of similar when travelling from Chi to Leicester via Vic and St Pancras a couple or more of winters ago when SASTA and Thameslink trains were all disrupted due to snow, yet East Midlands trains seemed to cope fine despite plenty of snow north of London. Gateline at St Pancras wouldn't let us through, insisted we queue at the ticket office for endorsements. On the other hand when we were on the train out of London the guard only took a cursory glance at our tickets and didn't bother checking the back for the endorsements.

 

[Deadly Danson]

Another terrible terrible shift. No one has a clue what is going on, numerous understandable moans from passengers who haven't got a clue what's going on and can't believe that we don't either. Cancellations galore. One of my colleagues was threatened with a stabbing today. This will all end in tears or a serious incident. This is only going to get worse. I think unless the situation is resolved by August, which is unlikely, I think the Albion can forget about Southern being able to offer a football service let alone a regular train service.

 

[redoubtable seagull]

Another terrible terrible shift. No one has a clue what is going on, numerous understandable moans from passengers who haven't got a clue what's going on and can't believe that we don't either. Cancellations galore. One of my colleagues was threatened with a stabbing today. This will all end in tears or a serious incident. This is only going to get worse. I think unless the situation is resolved by August, which is unlikely, I think the Albion can forget about Southern being able to offer a football service let alone a regular train service.

Absolutely hopeless tonight. Travelled to Hove from Eastbourne for the cricket. Cancellations and delays every step of the way out and back. Not one train listed in the boards at Hove, Brighton and Lewes was running on time tonight. No idea how we got home!

 

[Gwylan]

I didn't think we could do snap elections anymore? Didn't they pass something that said they could not do that in the last parliament?

They can if there's a two-thirds majority of MPs calling for it. There's been speculation that in the event of Brexit, PM Johnson would push for a quick election. I can't see it myself as Labour would need to vote for it and I can't see why they would want to - there'd be civil war among the Tories and they could enjoy the fun

Last three trains from Barnham back to Chichester were all cancelled tonight. According to an off duty guard at the pub I was at at, hundreds of people at Barnham demanding taxis..

Aren't rail companies obliged to find taxis now? I remember being put into a taxi at Leeds once to get to Ilkley when the incoming train was so late we missed our connection: the guy from the train company said the company had a legally responsibility to get passengers to their destination - although the people who didn't have a through ticket to other destinations were screwed, the operator only covered people who already had a ticket