Scotrail

[invergowrie arab]

Does it work on any of the boats? Been on 2 of the new ones recently where it's advertised everywhere but they haven't managed to get it working at all.

No, not does it work in the car lanes where it is advertised, not in the terminal if there is more than 6 people there.

[Sliced Bread]

On 22/06/2016 at 12:16, Sliced Bread said:

Got Inverness to Edinburgh train last week, got told it was terminating in Perth due to staff shortages. Had to sit around Perth for over an hour waiting for next train (I also had diarrhoea, which isn't Scotrail's fault but didn't make the experience much better, except that I got to go and find a chemist in Perth for some immodium). They told me to go online and apply for a refund which I did (word of warning - keep your tickets. If you don't still have your tickets they won't accept the claim, so don't put them in the barrier to get out) and they tell me thanks for your claim, all further correspondence will be by post. Post! Expecting it'll take them about a week to send me out a letter saying they've rejected my claim on some technicality, and we'll go back and forth by post until the 28 day claim period expires. I'm more annoyed about the post thing than the delayed train tbh.

Edit - I'd also booked a quiet carriage with plug charger sockets, there was neither a quiet carriage nor any sockets.

Received a cheque this morning for £84. Credit where it's due, it took them a while and there was a bit of buggering about but they sorted it out. 

[Chicken Wing]

About time they tell their drivers to get back to work and stop fucking around. Al the west coast services run with the driver operating the doors, ScotRail have already said there will still be a 2nd member of staff on the train so what's the fuckin problem??

Plenty of people want to be train drivers, tell them to get back to work or be replaced by someone who wants to do the job. 

Yes - my Sunday plans were ruined... 97 minutes in a fuckin bus for a 45 minute (detoured) train journey... Safe to say, stayed at home!

Research who's taking industrial action before becoming a simpering mess.

[The Minertaur]

33 minutes ago, Günther said:

About time they tell their drivers to get back to work and stop fucking around. Al the west coast services run with the driver operating the doors, ScotRail have already said there will still be a 2nd member of staff on the train so what's the fuckin problem??

Plenty of people want to be train drivers, tell them to get back to work or be replaced by someone who wants to do the job. 

Yes - my Sunday plans were ruined... 97 minutes in a fuckin bus for a 45 minute (detoured) train journey... Safe to say, stayed at home!

 

The issue is with conductors striking and not drivers. Train drivers aren't bothered - it's the conductors who will have less work to do and probably lose income from the proposals.

[19QOS19]

About time they tell their drivers to get back to work and stop fucking around. Al the west coast services run with the driver operating the doors, ScotRail have already said there will still be a 2nd member of staff on the train so what's the fuckin problem??

Plenty of people want to be train drivers, tell them to get back to work or be replaced by someone who wants to do the job. 

Yes - my Sunday plans were ruined... 97 minutes in a fuckin bus for a 45 minute (detoured) train journey... Safe to say, stayed at home!

As has been stated, it's nothing to do with the drivers it's the conductors.

I'm not getting into it again but I will say that the company have said they will schedule for two members of staff to be on the train, not guarantee. If they changed that wording to guarantee then I reckon this strike would be over soon enough. Just my opinion of course.

[vikingTON]

On 01/07/2016 at 14:08, 19QOS19 said:

F*ck it, you win, I'll bite

Out of interest, who are these "people pointing and laughing"? Or more to the point, where are these people? The public feedback has been generally positive on the pickets and by a lot of accounts online as well. The latter is more word of mouth as I don't do social media other than this so will stand corrected if it isn't in fact the case.

'Public feedback' at your ludicrous, twenty person 'pickets' at Glasgow Central and Queen Street? Non-existent, any time I've strolled past. I think your online claim will be taken with the shovel of salt it merits. 

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Alcohol ban. You think this is a ludicrous policy? Fair enough. You'd be happy to travel on one of the last trains with no alcohol ban and no member of staff?

Erm I have done, on many occasions. The last train on the Inverclyde lines is de facto without a ticket conductor and without an alcohol ban every night. Whether they're sitting in their cabin or have swanned off to the pub doesn't make a difference. And absolutely no-one has ever needed them to come out and open the doors. If there was an incident on board, the last person who would - or should - be getting involved is a ticket conductor. That is a matter for the BTP. 

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A pointless cause. Are you seriously questioning why people in a union are standing up for their jobs? Are you genuinely baffled by this?

I assume when you say "Clippie" you are refering to a TE. Again, do you genuinely believe their jobs are safe if the role of the Conductor goes? Trains are running just now without TE's even on services that are supposed to have one on board.

 

This sums up the idiocy of a union like the RMT. A train guard role is an utterly redundant position on a 21st century rail service - but it existed before, so let's strike to keep it in place. Yes: because that guarantees the best service for the passenger on what is in fact a public service, not a jobs for the boys cartel. Throw in an utterly bullshit scare story about 'passenger safety' and a ridiculous strike is good to go.

There is no credible threat to clippy positions because the vast majority of train stations do not have ticket barriers and couldn't feasibly put them in place. On the Inverclyde lines there is precisely two barriered stations out of twenty-two stations. Which means that if a rail company were stupid enough to get rid of clippies in the near future, they would instantly lose huge amounts of their revenue. So that's not going to happen. 

If at some distant point in the future a train company manages to raise revenue from passengers without needing a clippy on board, then their role is obsolete and they shouldn't be employed in that role. Tough luck: we don't have clippies on buses any more either. The economy moves on, as should any public service. 

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The last one is the funniest and makes me think you've taken me hook line and sinker because you surely can't be that naive. If the role of the Conductor goes you reckon your fares will reduce? Good luck with that.

Not at all - but it's pretty obvious that removing a completely redundant layer of employees from a public service will reduce the pressure to raise fares beyond the standard escalator: or for the savings to be used, in part, to provide a better service and facilities for the passengers. Handing it over to some berk in a uniform achieves absolutely nothing for the passenger. 

[invergowrie arab]

I got free travel to and from Edinburgh the other week. Keep up the good fight comrades.

[flyingscot]

59 minutes ago, 19QOS19 said:

As has been stated, it's nothing to do with the drivers it's the conductors.

I'm not getting into it again but I will say that the company have said they will schedule for two members of staff to be on the train, not guarantee. If they changed that wording to guarantee then I reckon this strike would be over soon enough. Just my opinion of course.

 

 

Really? In my view not a chance the RMT will accept that. It would weaken their position going after Merseyrail / Southern for the DOO /DCO issue. It would essentially end guards on the UK railways if they did. 

The public opinion is interesting. The use of 'Driver Only trains' is disingenuous and makes people concerned as it is railway terminology. I know people in my office who thought it was shocking and unsafe to have no conductor. When you tell people they want to adopt the same system as currently used on Paisley/Cathcart trains they are using it's 'oh what is the fuss about then'. 

Edited July 27, 2016 by flyingscot

[19QOS19]

Really? In my view not a chance the RMT will accept that. It would weaken their position going after Merseyrail / Southern for the DOO /DCO issue. It would essentially end guards on the UK railways if they did. 

The public opinion is interesting. The use of 'Driver Only trains' is disingenuous and makes people concerned as it is railway terminology. I know people in my office who thought it was shocking and unsafe to have no conductor. When you tell people they want to adopt the same system as currently used on Paisley/Cathcart trains they are using it's 'oh what is the fuss about then'. 

Just my view. But driver only will be exactly that if there is no guarantee of a second man on board and conductors are done away with.

Everyone is getting tired of the strike and if there is some kind of compromise negotiated you have to imagine both sides will bend slightly.

[blanco]

On 01/07/2016 at 12:37, welshbairn said:

 

The driver doesn't seem to be getting blamed for it so looks like he was following procedure. I would have thought a visual check would have been mandatory before pulling away, with or without a conductor.

Just noticed this.

If the driver dragged someone along the platform because he didn't check the doors were clear he probably won't be driving anymore.

[19QOS19]

Just noticed this.

If the driver dragged someone along the platform because he didn't check the doors were clear he probably won't be driving anymore.

It's instances and consequences like that that make me wonder why all drivers aren't against DOO's. Yes the worst case scenarios are rare but at least on conductor operated services they don't have any of that responsibility.


I heard the other day that a 2 year old was put on a DOO train by the mother and as the mother turned to get her belongings the train departed as the driver obviously thought she had come off. I don't know what the outcome of the driver would be in that instance but again it's a stress that they could surely do without.

[blanco]

15 minutes ago, 19QOS19 said:

 

 

It's instances and consequences like that that make me wonder why all drivers aren't against DOO's. Yes the worst case scenarios are rare but at least on conductor operated services they don't have any of that responsibility.


I heard the other day that a 2 year old was put on a DOO train by the mother and as the mother turned to get her belongings the train departed as the driver obviously thought she had come off. I don't know what the outcome of the driver would be in that instance but again it's a stress that they could surely do without.

 

 

From a drivers point of view I would rather have somebody else opening and closing the doors while I perved on burdz on the platform  but I dont, so rather than kill stupid passengers that get themselves jammed in doors I make sure the train is clear before I depart.

[19QOS19]

From a drivers point of view I would rather have somebody else opening and closing the doors while I perved on burdz on the platform  but I dont, so rather than kill stupid passengers that get themselves jammed in doors I make sure the train is clear before I depart.

Easily the best thing about my job is the eyeing up of the hunnies

[Bobby Skidmarks]

Easily the best thing about my job is the eyeing up of the hunnies

What about kicking out the tramps who've pished themselves?

[blanco]

43 minutes ago, DangermouseFFC said:

Do drivers get paid more for operating the doors on a DOO train than they would for "just driving" with a guard on board?

Unfortunately not, Scotrail drivers all get paid the same whether they operate the doors or the conductor does it.

Edited July 27, 2016 by blanco

[blanco]

6 minutes ago, 19QOS19 said:

 

 

Easily the best thing about my job is the eyeing up of the hunnies

 

 

I've seen a few of your female colleagues up in the central bothy 

[blanco]

5 minutes ago, DangermouseFFC said:

 

In which case surely drivers should be against DOO?

DOO operation was negotiated into drivers Ts&Cs during pay talks nearly 30 years ago. Just because it hasn't yet been incorporated on some routes doesn't mean that drivers have grounds to refuse to do it.

[blanco]

1 minute ago, DangermouseFFC said:

 

As an aside, what happens to a driver who reports for work on a strike day only to find his train can't run because his guard is striking?

His train doesn't go into service and he sits in the bothy and watches whatever shite is on sky.

[welshbairn]

DOO operation was negotiated into drivers Ts&Cs during pay talks nearly 30 years ago. Just because it hasn't yet been incorporated on some routes doesn't mean that drivers have grounds to refuse to do it.

And you get paid pretty well as it is, no point in blowing it for other sections. That was my attitude when negotiating wages on behalf of colleagues, best deal for us, let others fight their own battles. Otherwise it gets too complicated and the management get the chance to screw everyone. Had to side with management to stop the union rep, straight out of college, from fucking up our deal by trying to extend it to other departments.

[19QOS19]

I've seen a few of your female colleagues up in the central bothy 

I don't work out of Central but you're right, there are a few lovelies that frequent the place. There are also a couple of tidy gate staff there as well.