Please forgive me. This is just a rant. Mondays are bad enough for some of us, without inept, incompetent Railway operators to make our life a misery. I had the joy of making two journeys on the worlds worst service. I thought I'd get an "early" train , to avoid the worst of the rush. I got the 07.47 from Mill Hill. This train was one of those not cancelled in the new "emergency" timetable.
Now I always thought that an emergency was something that was unforeseen and unexpected. If you run a rail company, and you rely on drivers working overtime to actually run the service, is it unexpected if they get awkward when they are told they are not getting a payrise. The managing director of the parent Company, Moir Lockhead lives in a castle in Scotland and get's £800,000 a year "compensation" for running the service. Did he think to himself when ASLEF kicked off? "I can't believe it, these rail unions are taking action, what a surprise" as his butler brought him tea and scones.
Anyway back to my journey. The 07:47 arrived 5 minutes late, packed to the rafters. Of the dozen or so people waiting by the door I was standing at, I was one of the lucky 5 to get on. Packed like sardines, we trundled along, stopping at Hendon, Cricklewood, West Hampstead and Kentish Town, leaving people on the platform as we passed through. They were consoled by a 45 minute wait for the next service, which was undoubtedly even busier.
A fellow passenger said as we got off at City Thameslink "How much worse could this be?". Well if she got the 17:44 back again (arrived 5 minutes late) she would know. It seems that not only are they lacking in drivers, but they are lacking in carriages. You would think that if they weren't running services, they could at least make sure that the trains were 8 carriages long. Oh no, you see the 17:44 was only four carriages. It was packed when it arrived at City Thameslink. A truly awful trip back to Mill Hill ensued. As we disembarked, a respectable looking City type announced at the top of his voice "If they try and check my ticket tonight, I'll stab them". You see unlike Moir Lockhead, who sits in his Scottish Castle counting his stock options, his staff (those not on £800,000 per year) take the brunt of his decisions. They get the zero percent payrise, they get the Ire of the passengers. There is a letter in tonights Evening Standard, suggesting that by paying less overtime and running shorter trains, the company is making even more profit. Is this true? I've no idea, but I do know this. If Gordon Brown wanted to make himself popular, he would strip all of these awful companies of their franchises. Many people in London are out of work. Train them up as train drivers and get rid of the need for excessive overtime. I'd like to see all commuter services, buses, trains and tube under the mayor.
As for the greedy bosses, I'd like to see them thrown in the workhouse.
Rant Over
1 comment:
Rog
The usual story is that we have to pay these top salaries to attract the best talent, but as in so many walks of life, we are paying the money but not getting anywhere near the quality we deserve.
In the old days, if entrepreneurs risked their own capital (and in many cases put their homes on the line) they were entitled to reap the benefits of their endeavours. But today, executives in the public sector (or private industries which receive taxpayer subsidies) receive obscene salaries without having to take any risks or be accountable to shareholders / customers / taxpayers.
Bonuses used to be something you would receive if you met certain productivity targets. Now chief executives expect bonuses by right and then get big payoffs when they are eventually sacked for incompetence. Nobody can say this is all down to “those wicked Tories looking after their own”. This culture has grown under Labour.
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