icepick said:
same lies on the white board outside Kennington tube.. absurd attempt at deceit.
RMT and ASLEF drivers take action to protect our safety
- Thread starter Groucho
- Start date
same lies on the white board outside Kennington tube.. absurd attempt at deceit.
scott_forester
probably talking shite
Oxpecker said:
I thought corners were cut not to increase profit but because the Goverment didn't want to pay for them in the first place.
laptop said:I'm interested
There's always one
When I'm back to work I'll dig out the on-line reports for you.
Meanwhile, did you know that central line drivers were reporting problems with motors falling off for months before the Chancery Lane derailment? I had a meeting with a Safety Quality Environment (SQE) manager before the derailment and he assured me that the problem had been resolved and would never happen again.
On the Picc line, drivers identified a problem which was causing bogies to drop onto the axles causing burning and excessive smoke. This was reported to SQE managers who said that it shouldn't be a problem because (I kid you not) passengers will smell the burning and alert the driver. When asked the consequences of passengers not alerting the driver but the train continuing in service he blithely responded that it would result in a derailment. After threatening staff they continued in service while mods were made to the stock.
The Circle Line was operating without the tripcocks (same problem as the Northern Line) being tested for weeks on end due to track repairs; the safety system could have been compromised but the trains continued in service after threats to drivers who complained.
Before 7/7 drivers had been refusing to drive trains without radios on safety grounds; many of them were disciplined and had entries made on their records. Since 7/7 we now have the right to refuse to drive trains with no radios, but those drivers refusing to drive beforehand have still not had their disciplinary records deleted.
More to follow (as WoW says).
scott_forester said:
In sense you're right of course - it was a political decision to privatise the system to keep the real expense outside of the PSBR. The PPP is costing taxpayers and passengers an absolute fortune to satisfy Brown's public spending pledges. The Infracos are guaranteed profits but want to maximise them by cutting corners and laying off staff.
The "internal market" means that there's a constant ping-ponging between the operating and the maintenance companies about who is to blame for lost mileage. Countless management hours are spent every day allocating blame; consequently drivers are intimidated into driving substandard stock because thay have to be able to prove that there is a genuine fault - if they take a train out of service and can't subsequently justify their action they have an entry on their record. Meanwhile Infraco staff are having to maintain more trains per shift, so little faults ie non safety-critical, are going unrepaired. If a defective train is taken from a depot into service without the fault being recognised it becomes the liability of the operating company - this is encouraging "sharp practices" by the maintenance companies and having a detrimental effect on passengers.
Oxpecker said:
This is a crucial point that would be political dynamite if it got into the public consciousness. Privatisation, and Public-Private-Partnership costs taxpayers and service users more for a worse service. Accounting statistics allows Governments to shovel heaps of money into private hands and to declare that the result is less public spending.
Oxpecker said:
Wasn't it actually in Brown and the Treasury's gift to simply change the rules of the PSBR? Ken Livinstone's option of funding tube works via a bond system was deemed to have counted against the PSBR and was therefore dismissed by the Treasury. I'm sure Kiley and Livingstone argued at the time that it would have taken a simple PSBR rule change to allow it all to be funded by bonds and to remain publically owned. But the Treasury wouldn't allow any option other than privatisation.
Streathamite
ideological dogmatist
oxpecker - cheers for info, sorry to be a pest
pk
drink flounce rinse repeat
Totally support the drivers refusing to run dangerous train systems.
Totally pissed off at the sarcastic ticket office staff.
The passenger is a customer, the fuckwit staff should show a bit of respect if a few hundred people at each station just want to patiently request information as to why their station has closed.
Leaving it to the Evening Standard to explain why is fucking bollocks.
Totally pissed off at the sarcastic ticket office staff.
The passenger is a customer, the fuckwit staff should show a bit of respect if a few hundred people at each station just want to patiently request information as to why their station has closed.
Leaving it to the Evening Standard to explain why is fucking bollocks.
bizarrely tubelines now seem to be blaming everything on the fact that the maintenance of the tubes themselves is done by alstom (under a contract between alstom & LUL, inhereited by them when they took over in 2003), and if they had more direct control over this there wouldn't be such a problem
this is hardly a glowing endorsement of the PPP/PFI environment that they themselves are champions off
http://www.tubelines.com/press.html
this is hardly a glowing endorsement of the PPP/PFI environment that they themselves are champions off
http://www.tubelines.com/press.html
Dave Mullen
Bolt Ya Radge!
In Essence it is the nature of 21 century capitalism when something goes wrong don't take any responsibility but look for a scapegoat instead.
Also thereis no effective means of prosecuting companies who deliberately endanger the safety of their staff or the public.
Also thereis no effective means of prosecuting companies who deliberately endanger the safety of their staff or the public.
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