On 15 May 2016 at 6:16am Coming home wrote:
Dreadful and getting worse.
Saturday evening I was on a train to Brighton in order to get to Lewes because the next Ore service was cancelled. At haywards heath I got off the train because a platform announcement (and several afterwards) said to ignore the information displays, the Ore service is running. Yep, in comes the train (late) and it is terminated at haywards heath. More announcements suggesting passengers to Lewes go via Brighton. I was at haywards Heath for forty minutes for nothing. Ridiculous. I know there are worse problems in the world but we used to take pride in doing things right. Political point- I have no strong views on brexit, but are our systems and decision makers solid enough for us to stand alone? I know Southern railway and its deficiencies have nothing to do with Europe, I'm just asking.
On 15 May 2016 at 7:46am Earl of Lewes wrote:
We managed to become the world's first industrialised nation and run a quarter of the globe without any help from Europe. If we're struggling today, it's because corporate greed has replaced any sense of patriotism and duty. Ironically, for all her bombastic patriotism, it was Mrs Thatcher that paved the way for this, selling off our assets to the highest bidder, regardless of whether it was in the national interest. We're now in a position where we're having to ask the Chinese to build a nuclear power station for us - but we pioneered nuclear power before China even had the bomb! Perhaps Brexit will give us the kick up the backside we need to have a sense of purpose again. Perhaps it won't and we'll continue on our journey to become a dodgy, money laundering tax haven.
On 15 May 2016 at 8:03am Belladonna wrote:
CH - I sympathise. Have encountered same problem several times. It's woeful. I now email my complaint instantly. Looking forward to the next strike on Wednesday. I wouldn't be surprised if the franchise is taken away.
On 15 May 2016 at 10:31am Earl of Lewes wrote:
I apologise for the drivel above. Note to self: don't write anything whilst hungover.
On 15 May 2016 at 10:33am Rookie wrote:
The train service has been very poor of late. I have now started to bother to get compensation. I currently have 4 claims in their system from the last 3 weeks alone.
On 15 May 2016 at 10:43am Clifford wrote:
I claim for every delay and also e-mail the CEO of Southern's parent company, Go-ahead, regularly to ensure he is aware of what a dire business he is paid to run. This sometimes leads to further compensation. I'd recommend everyone does this. The CEO's e-mail address is in the link.
Check it out here »
On 15 May 2016 at 11:19am GoM wrote:
Dear Earl of Lewes , I accept your honourable apology. For tomorrow you will be sober, and I will still be dead. Kind regards, Margaret.
On 15 May 2016 at 12:38pm pn wrote:
I My train home was cancelled due to shortages of staff and my train in the morning was also cancelled throwing my week into chaos . The remaining staff were surly and unhelpful and the whole exercise was clearly designed to cause maximum disruption
Naturally there were groups of pointless idiots sitting around doing nothing getting paid for it whilst this was going on
The problem is not profit it is the unions and the closed highly regulated system . In my view on Public monopoly providers there should not be Unions , pay rates should be decided by a commission and they should be in line with market levels . Right now they are way above what is required for jobs that could be dropped entirely .
On 15 May 2016 at 12:50pm mark 2 wrote:
The staff are treated appallingly hence their reluctance to go the extra mile, so to speak. Don't blame them. Their morale is at rock bottom and they bear the brunt of their greed driven employers' shambolic service.
On 15 May 2016 at 3:38pm Clifford wrote:
pn wrote: 'The problem is not profit it is the unions...'
I hope we all realise we are lucky to have 'pn' with us to explain precisely what is wrong with most things. Of course it is 'the unions', now the owners, or management, or the idiotioc way the Major government privatised the railways. It is all the fault of 'the unions'.
On 15 May 2016 at 6:03pm Major wrote:
Actually it was the idiot John Major who privatised the railways to comply with EU rail directives.
It is a fact Jeremy Corbyn could not renationalise due to EU rules. The only way to get a decent service is therefore to vote leave and vote Corbyn
On 15 May 2016 at 10:10pm Horseman7 wrote:
I emailed Southern last night and the acknowledgement stated they "hope to reply within 28 days".
On 16 May 2016 at 9:30am Eric C wrote:
I can remember the abomination that was British Rail. That was light years worse than what we have now. Renationalisation is not the answer.
On 16 May 2016 at 9:36am Grunge wrote:
Bring back the British Rail sandwich. I miss their curling edges.
On 16 May 2016 at 5:58pm ar10642 wrote:
The cancellations are happening because the DfT wants as many trains nationwide as possible to switch to DOO (Driver Only Operation) and is using GTR (Southern/Thameslink/Great Northern) as a test case. The guards are striking, going "sick" and refusing to do overtime that they would usually regularly do because they feel their jobs are threatened. GTR want to make them "On Board Supervisors" whose job is not to close doors and perform train despatch and emergency safety procedures, but just focus on customer service and ticket sales. Crucially, the OBS will not be *required* to be present on a train for the service to run, as the guard is, so the guards see themselves as becoming non-essential and therefore sackable. GTR is a management only company - all ticket revenue goes directly to the DfT, and the DfT are covering GTR's strike losses. GTR just get a fixed fee for running the service. It's likely that anyone else who started running the service would be subject to the same terms from the DfT. Those who want to bring back nationalisation would do well to remember who's pulling the strings here and how badly it's been handled.
On 20 Jun 2016 at 9:43am Keith wrote:
No support for the train drivers from me.. pulling sickies is a very childish way of trying to get attention. Just happy tomorrow is forecast to be rain... finally some karma... they have had too many strike days in the middle of summer (wouldnt surprise me if they cancel it as its raining). Train drivers are really well paid for a fairly simple job and i know most of them appreciate that. All other industries have embraced technology to reduce staff costs and improve service... yet train staff think they are in a little bubble where the public should support them for providing a poor service, that they continue to impede getting better.
On 2 Jul 2016 at 7:41pm Peter the Sailor wrote:
Keith's post is not accurate. Southern is implying, though never quite saying so as it has no evidence, that some conductors/guards are 'pulling sickies' even though it insists on medical certificates from the first day of illness. To me this lack of trust reflects the company's fear that its conductor/guards have no loyalty or respect for the company. Given the way that the company has treated them that is not an unreasonable fear. It has not implied such a suspicion of drivers. The fact is that Southern assumes that drivers and conductors will work their rest days in order to staff the 'service.' Southern itself is not allowing conductors who went on strike to work their rest days as punishment for daring to strike. Out of sympathy with their colleagues I suspect that many drivers are also refusing to work rest days. What sort of management PLANS to not have enough staff? Answer, in case you cannot work it out, MANAGEMENT THAT PUTS PROFIT FIRST and above all else - and that kind of management rarely runs a customer focused operation. They should lose the franchise now.
On 8 Dec 2016 at 5:45pm Richard Kerkvliet wrote:
Does anyone know what the guards and drivers get paid ?! They are extremely well paid, maybe if they don't like it they should try getting another job. Of they won't do this because they would never find another job that involves wandering around chatting to people and closing doors that pays 40k a year. Something needs to be done and if that involves recruiting ppl who would be happy to paid that well and getting shot of the dead wood. This wouldn't happen in Germany or Japan where the trains run to time. All the blame lies with the greedy staff and Unions, they are paid to do a job which they do very badly.