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Old August 11th 03, 08:54 PM posted to uk.transport.london
Steve Steve is offline
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First recorded activity at LondonBanter: Jul 2003
Posts: 19
Default Compensation For Delays

"Robin Mayes" wrote in
:

"Steve" wrote in message
...

The issue is not the hot weather but how LU management and staff
respond

to
such problems. When there are no trains/delays you never get decent
information,


Bit of a broad statement! Would you care to give times and dates?


Are you suggestings that the opposite is true?

The example I gave about the SAs telling potential passengers about 10
minutes and admitting they have been doing so for the last 20. I use west
finchley daily and I have *never* heard an announcement, presumably because
the announcer is at finchley central and is too lazy to bother.


the station staff tend to huddle together rather than making
themselvels available for the people that are supposed to help.


Location?


Usually by the barriers, never on a platform.


The lack of
initiative of these staff, when you suggest something the response is
to write to LU in rather than than take it on themselves


Because that's the only way management will pay attention to your
complaint. Would you complain to the Tesco check-out person about the
qualitity of fruit or would you write in if you wanted soemthing done?


Thank you, this tesco analogy sums up LU staff perfectly well, if a Tesco
shelf stacker saw the fruit was mankey they would not put it out and they
would tell their manager who would do something. Sure, fill Tescos will LU
staff then they would put the fruit out because they don't give a damn.


despite that fact
that 50% of SAs serve no purpose since they are always around in pairs.


Location, date, time?


Just go onto any station, are you denying this?

When there are problems you will frequently and without notice be
chucked of a train because the driver has to clock off, it may be
30mins before clocking off time but they must get back to the depot to
clock off. There are two issues with this, one is the attitude of the
drivers to sod the passengers,


Put yourself in the train operators shoes. You're hungry, thirsty, tired
and need a break because you've been driving for hours. In those
circumstances you're far more likely to make a mistake and hit a signal
which could get you sacked, would you risk it?


So what about those who have automatic trains? And if you are suggesting an
extra 20 minutes would make you a danger I suggest that margin is too close
and you are too dangerous to drive. Also, note I did say you will stop
driving before end of shift to travel back to the depot to clock off rather
then carrying on but ending your shift elsewhere.


Even in normal operating trains will change destination to make the

figures
look better, i.e. a full train going via bank will change to Charing X
at Camden because there are not enough trains on that branch, the
calculation that the people on the train were going to via bank does
not matter - its just about numbers of trains. Then there is "we are
holding this train to regulate the service", this usually happens when
the train is full and there is not customer benefit to delaying a full
train of people but management want to have a equal distance between
trains - again sod the passenger.


So, you have two trains using the CX branch and none via Bank. You
consider that good customer service for those on the Bank branch if you
don't divert one of them?


Well you have a trains worth of people on a platform and a mostly empty
train. Note these changes are only notified at camden so you have already
screwed the bank service by letting the train pass though claiming it is
going via CC. Defending **** poor planning does not make LU look good.

Perhaps every time this happened the controller had to report why it
happened and why he should carry on in his job when he cannot even forsee
that.