Inverness to London sleeper train is cancelled because guard 'failed to turn up for s
 

Hmmmm, was the guard on the red carpet the next day? Don't they have staff on standby in case of such eventualities?

Daily Mail

I would have thought there would always be a stand-by for eventualities like this happening.

Oh dear!!
Sounds like the bad old days when organisation and punctuality were non-existent! You know, the days of the curled up sandwich and could not care less attitude!
Bad for business. What happened to the passengers I wonder?
Cheers
Phil

You know it's really sad how quick people are to judge others. Nowhere does it say he was absent without leave.

We had a similar situation here a few weeks ago. A train was cancelled due to the ubiquitous reason of "driver failed to turn up".

It turns out he was in Teneriffe. Quite legitimately in fact, as rosters had granted him leave and forgotten to cover his job.

It takes many people to a make railway run, but everybody blames the TRAINCREW when a train is late or cancelled.

You would have thought that on a railway forum, of all places, people might be a little bit wiser......:mad:

I don’t think from the comments so far that anyone is judging any one person?
For my point of view I just believe that if a system is to run efficiently it needs to have all eventualities covered as far as possible. Whatever the reason for the guard not showing up is quite irrelevant. What is relevant was why there was no cover? How do you imagine the passengers felt because of a breakdown in service that should never have happened? It is after all they who pay the wages!
This is a forum where people have views that may differ from everyone else, but hey that’s democracy!

Hope the powers that be, put things right before more customers are lost!!
All the best
Phil

Hi Phil, thanks for your reply. We're both looking at different issues here, so I'll try and cover the points in order.

That's not how I read this.......

I'm seeing the word guard clearly. :eek: Not Rosters, Driver Resourcing Managers, Service Delivery Centre, or perish the thought MANAGEMENT - at whose door all failures should be laid as it is their job to make the railway run.

I was not criticising anybody's viewpoint, I was simply expressing my own personal dismay at the way people jump to the conclusion that it was the traincrew's fault when THIS WAS NOT CLEARLY ESTABLISHED.

"Train cancelled because driver/guard failed to turn up" is a stock phrase that is bandied about when a train doesn't have a crew. There are a multitude of reasons why the crew may not be there. In my experience it's often not the crew's fault - I gave one example in my previous post, and I could probably fill a whole page with more reasons if required.

You're right, this is a democratic forum & I enjoy the discussions. God knows we could do with some lively discussion on here. Of course everybody has a right to express their view, and to be listened to. I fully respect that.

I apologise if you think I'm trying to shout people down. I'm not, but this is my day job and I'm passionate about it. The railway would run so much better if a few more people on it were passionate.

And now to the points that matter to you.....

That's the privatised railway for you. Companies employ FAR fewer staff than they actually require, and encourage their staff to work their Rest Days. (Thanks God for Hidden 18, which caps the number of days a Safety Critical member of staff can work). To watch the DRMs trying to cover the work fills me with a great deal of respect for them - I couldn't do their job.

Do you really imagine that any company intent on squeezing the maximum profit out of the cash cow is going to pay staff to sit around as Cover ?


Well Phil I spend most of my time on the railway. I don't have to imagine. I have to deal with verbal and physical threats on a regular basis because of the poor quality of service that I'm giving them. I KNOW how people feel.

Cancellations affect me too. Just like my passengers I know how it feels to be stranded 100 miles from home after a long day's work because my train home isn't running.

And I know how it is to be a passenger. I have to pay to travel on other TOC's trains, and put up with their cancellations and poor customer service.

I do feel for my customers, and as you say it is a systemic problem.

Thank you for an interesting discussion,

Yours respectfully, BW

Yes, it could have also been someone else's fault, and the company should have a standby crew. The Daily Mail tends to sensationalize and made it look like the guard was at fault. I was actually asking a question, was the guard to blame? My most humble apologies if I have offended anyone.

The biggest cause of train delays, I put down to passengers who take their time boarding, or running up and down the platform supposedly looking for their mate/friend before boarding.

One guy did this to me almost daily on one train when I was a Guard on an EMU, so after getting fed-up with his antics, one night he did it, and when he was between doors, so I closed them, and off we went, leaving him an hour to wait for the next one. The next day when he saw I was on the train again, he got on the nearest door, and when I got to him he complained, so I told him Not to run up and down the platform, when you can walk through the train as all others including myself do. Needless to say, he took notice and always boarded through the nearest door after that.

Wouldn't agree with that at all. When I worked in Control in the so called bad old days of BR to even contemplate cancelling a train like that was truly unthinkable. One would unfortunately have to take someone off a less important train maybe a commuter service where there would be another in say perhaps 15 to 30 mins later.
There were also spare guards who could be used to save all that or some freight guards could also work passenger trains.
Nowadays in the privatized railway everything is cut to the bone and there is no spare capacity or flexibility whatsoever, hence absolutely crowded trains and the end of Turn Up and Go.

Not at all. My apologies also for being a bit being a 'precious'. ;)