Wot no train thread?

[GoldWithFalmer]

Rubbish coming down from London, I noticed 2 trains were cancelled down to Brighton.

A23 Southbound was closed at pyecombe at 6pm due to an accident to really throw a spanner into things

 

[yxee]

Where do you get this information? Can you give us some facts behind this so we can come to a properly informed view?

If they don't employ enough staff to cover totally unreasonable levels of sickness and absenteeism then I can understand that. Equally if they don't employ enough staff then why is it the trains run fine some of the time? So they must have enough sometimes?

My first thoughts on last night are a rota was compiled and names put in and SASTA thought it was OK and told the club. The club told the fans. Now it appears that nobody was then told that the trains wouldn't run so logically something happened very late in the day. Forgive my stupidity but that suggests staff weren't where they should have been (at work). Of course if SASTA employed loads more staff then that wouldn't matter!!!

They're both a shower a shit, neither are concerned about the travelling public just trying to score points off the other and each with their own propaganda much of which gets recycled on this board

Simplified example:

Southern need 100 full-time drivers to run a normal service.
Southern employ 80 full-time drivers and rely on them doing voluntary overtime to run.
Southern treat drivers like dirt, drivers chose not to do voluntary overtime.
Not enough drivers to run trains, Southern run a reduced schedule and then make further cancellations.

Southern cash DfT paycheck.

 

[ManOfSussex]

That was beyond a disgrace last night. I left the West Upper at full time and got in the queue for the eastbound train in good time, then.....................over an hour in the freezing cold along with children, elderly and a mixture of gallows humour and anger from those around me. The contrast between the weather for the Huddersfield game and the shambles after that and last night was stark.

I saw the 2130 Brighton to Ashford train go through and not stop, then the sight of that 8 car train go through empty was pitiful. I eventually got the delayed train at 2254 to Eastbourne, changed there and got in after midnight. In fairness to Southern, they kindly held that train up to wait for the next train from Lewes to come in, so people from that could connect rather than wait another hour.

Southern surely would have known their staffing levels at 1800 time and if they could have advised the club at 2000 on the night of the Huddersfield game of problems after the game, why not last night too?

 

[Thunder Bolt]

Are these the same hard working employees that fancied Christmas and new year's off so are going on strike then where all they do is dampen the festive spirit? I have zero sympathy with the striking staff

Most of those services are cancelled in any case for engineering works.

 

[yxee]

Most of those services are cancelled in any case for engineering works.

No they aren't!

 

[GoldWithFalmer]

Simplified example:

Southern need 100 full-time drivers to run a normal service.
Southern employ 80 full-time drivers and rely on them doing voluntary overtime to run.
Southern treat drivers like dirt, drivers chose not to do voluntary overtime.
Not enough drivers to run trains, Southern run a reduced schedule and then make further cancellations.

Southern cash DfT paycheck.

I always though drivers of trains got circ 35 to 60k per year,i admit it takes concentration and a certain amount of bravery,coupled with some "train (no pun) ing" also probably has an impact on social life too but i would have thought people would be queing up for jobs.

 

[Ernest]

Any SASTA employee such as [MENTION=1332]Deadly Danson[/MENTION] signs a contract to adhere to the rule book and one of the things is that you must not criticise or do anything on social media etc or talk to the press without permission if it concerns SASTA, enough employees have been sacked during the dispute already so why should DD put his livelihood at risk ? Would any of you ?

The problem is all you stood like sheep last night , standing on the platform tut tutting and listening to 'that man' saying loads of people had gone off with the sniffles. SASTA get away with doing what they do because the lot of you let them get away with it.

It was obvious by 2pm yesterday that SASTA wouldn't be running a timetabled service but they failed to contact the club etc and that is what Barber should be pressing them on.

 

[Thunder Bolt]

No they aren't!

They were last Christmas. Lots of moans on NSC about getting to away games.

 

[Thunder Bolt]

I always though drivers of trains got circ 35 to 60k per year,i admit it takes concentration and a certain amount of bravery,coupled with some "train (no pun) ing" also probably has an impact on social life too but i would have thought people would be queing up for jobs.

They would be if SASTA were actively recruiting, but they aren't.

 

[AK74]

I always though drivers of trains got circ 35 to 60k per year,i admit it takes concentration and a certain amount of bravery,coupled with some "train (no pun) ing" also probably has an impact on social life too but i would have thought people would be queing up for jobs.

Out of idle curiosity, I looked into this a while back. My understanding is that GTR have been advertising for drivers, and those who have been successful in the recruitment process have been placed into a talent pool awaiting notification of a formal start date. All well and good, you might think, so what's the problem? The fly in the ointment - or leaf on the rail/snowflake in the air - is a lack of qualified driver trainers to run the courses. The talent pool contains people who've been in it for months (over a year in some cases), and there is a thread on another forum where they post hopeful messages to one another about seeing light at the end of the aptly proverbial tunnel. Quite why they'd still want to work for GTR after this omnishambles is another question entirely.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

It was obvious by 2pm yesterday that SASTA wouldn't be running a timetabled service but they failed to contact the club etc and that is what Barber should be pressing them on.

This, completely. What was different yesterday from previous evening matches where SASTA have held their hands up in surrender by 4.30pm and the club have had at least a sporting chance of putting together a costly contingency plan by laying on some buses to help the fans get home? Did staff walk off halfway through their shift or something? Or did SASTA just not bother contacting the club for reasons best known to themselves? The club really needs to go on the attack bigtime against that wretched company. It's just not fit for purpose.

 

[Blue Valkyrie]

Got 3 weeks to sort it out before Leeds come visiting.

 

[Springal]

The club need to stop pussy footing around and sort this out. As Southern biggest commercial customer, supposedly, there must be a contract in place around levels of service etc. The club are so good at going after their customers for stopping direct debits, upgrading kids STH to many times etc that they need to look at how they work with their suppliers.

I'd like to invite Paul Barber, transport manager etc to try using the service from Worthing for a weekday evening game. It has been pretty consistently shit for a year now.

 

[Rugrat]

Simplified example:

Southern need 100 full-time drivers to run a normal service.
Southern employ 80 full-time drivers and rely on them doing voluntary overtime to run.
Southern treat drivers like dirt, drivers chose not to do voluntary overtime.
Not enough drivers to run trains, Southern run a reduced schedule and then make further cancellations.

Southern cash DfT paycheck.

Thx .. that sounds mostly reasonable but would like to see the opposing argument for 1 and 2

I guess the 3rd point is arguable and Southern would say drivers are witholding to create more disruption. If they are relying on voluntary overtime then wouldn't a driver book that time in advance and they'd know if they can operate a service or not?

One assumes the (so called) BHA Transport Manger would have made checks throughout the day ready to inform fans of any cancellations? So what was going on there? Southern lying isn't really an option

 

[Bozza]

Any SASTA employee such as [MENTION=1332]Deadly Danson[/MENTION] signs a contract to adhere to the rule book and one of the things is that you must not criticise or do anything on social media etc or talk to the press without permission if it concerns SASTA, enough employees have been sacked during the dispute already so why should DD put his livelihood at risk ? Would any of you ?.

Eh? He's been savagely criticising them for months on here.

 

[Diego Napier]

Sorry but disagree biggest cop out for quite a while and defending the indefensible

Defending the indefensible? Lot's of thumbs up for him and none for you......

 

[AK74]

How about a coordinated social media 'attack' - in the nicest sense of the word - on Southern's Twitter account before either the next home game or evening fixture? If 'x' hundred/thousand of us all contact them at the same time (e.g. 2pm for an evening game) asking the exact same question, then their team should have to give a consistent answer. The eternal optimist in me hopes that it might stir the management into some form of positive action to help people get home. Not a rail replacement bus, but a rail supplementary bus service.

Just riffing here. Probably badly, as my per my guitar playing.

 

[HAILSHAM SEAGULL]

So where were the staff?
Didn't have enough because they didn't show up for work.

All sitting in the British Rail social club watching Albion v Villa live on Sky

 

[kingcole]

Any SASTA employee such as [MENTION=1332]Deadly Danson[/MENTION] signs a contract to adhere to the rule book and one of the things is that you must not criticise or do anything on social media etc or talk to the press without permission if it concerns SASTA, enough employees have been sacked during the dispute already so why should DD put his livelihood at risk ? Would any of you ?

The problem is all you stood like sheep last night , standing on the platform tut tutting and listening to 'that man' saying loads of people had gone off with the sniffles. SASTA get away with doing what they do because the lot of you let them get away with it.

It was obvious by 2pm yesterday that SASTA wouldn't be running a timetabled service but they failed to contact the club etc and that is what Barber should be pressing them on.

Agree with your last paragraph but earlier you are essentially saying that if an employee brought to the attention of the club and the public at large, a forthcoming issue that could be mitigated by foresight and some planning, he would face discipline?

Those disciplining him are a company whos contract is given to them by a government elected by those he is trying to help.

If said poster had spoken up, he would be benefiting all and harming no one, apart from those at the railway who told the club there would be a full match day service. And even they would just have egg on their face.

I only sell sticky labels for a living but I would be wholly confident of defending such an individual in these circumstances in a tribunal or court.

 

[Notters]

Which in turn will probably lead to a significant number of STHs not renewing. It seems like nearly half the games are evening kick-offs now, and if the transport infrastructure can't even be relied on to get people home to, say, Worthing or Newhaven, let alone further afield, there's going to be less and less people willing to put themselves and their families through that level of nonsense on a regular basis. And who could blame them.

That's the crux of it for me. I can't be getting in at 1am when my wife is having to deal with my daughter screaming at 2am!