London Midland Trains

[Tony]

Expect another afternoon/evening of hardly any trains running on London Midland again later. Who says Go-Ahead are one of the better transport groups?

[Tomjusttom]

Its due to staff sickness and leave. It could happen at national express or in any other company.

[Discodave]

they never advertise for drivers or any staff there are loads out of work have checked

[Tony]

Its due to staff sickness and leave. It could happen at national express or in any other company.

There is a lot more than that. LM are currently short of conductors and the staff that are there take a lot more sickness on friday and saturday night than any other time.others are refusing overtime to cover. To have about 70 cancellations on one day but none the previous 4, tells you it is a bit more than a few staff having a bit of sickness

[andy]

Its due to staff sickness and leave. It could happen at national express or in any other company.

There is a lot more than that. LM are currently short of conductors and the staff that are there take a lot more sickness on friday and saturday night than any other time.others are refusing overtime to cover. To have about 70 cancellations on one day but none the previous 4, tells you it is a bit more than a few staff having a bit of sickness

The issue is rota patterns. They rely on too much overtime working rather than scheduled working, meaning they are at the mercy of staff accepting overtime. This dates back to the Central Trains contracts which have never been renegotiated with the unions. I was delayed by 2 cancelled trains this afternoon, and then got into yet another argument with the staff at New Street who wanted to fine me for having no ticket, despite the ticket office at Gravelly Hill being closed, the Permit machine being removed months ago and the conductor on the train having no ticket equipment due to a flat battery pack. I wonder how many passengers did get fined unfairly yesterday who didn't kick up as much fuss as I did? They treat you like scum.

Then on the return journey we are all sat on a train waiting to leave when 10 minutes after we should have gone we are all turfed off and sent to the next platform along. Conveniently we were on platform 8 where there were no lifts for disabled passengers at the moment and had to go to 7, so there was a further 10 minute delay while they somehow repositioned a passenger.

Farce doesn't go far enough Tony, how much longer do LM have the franchise and what would they be fined for this lot?

Unsurprisingly they are advertising for Conductors on their website!

[danny]

I had that row lol.when theirs no box office staff at sandwell,.and then the conductor dosent come down the train as supposed to, accept i got fined, however i am refusing to pay it, written to lm and awaiting their response

[vinh1000]

I had that row lol.when theirs no box office staff at sandwell,.and then the conductor dosent come down the train as supposed to, accept i got fined, however i am refusing to pay it, written to lm and awaiting their response

same here
though they havent fined it you get the same argument constantly at NS

[Tomjusttom]

The onus is on YOU to approach the guard if you require a ticket as it says in the NRCoC, not the other way round

[andy]

I had that row lol.when theirs no box office staff at sandwell,.and then the conductor dosent come down the train as supposed to, accept i got fined, however i am refusing to pay it, written to lm and awaiting their response

Luckily for me the conductor was coming off the train anyway so I dragged him upstairs to ensure I didn't get another grilling and penalty. I am sick of it, they are purposely setting out to criminalise people. I dread to think how many genuine people end up in this net and don't know how to fight it and end up paying up. I have a script prepared for them now and there is one old battleaxe in particular who scatters for cover when she sees me. The situation at Gravelly Hill is a disgrace, Hardly ever open, no ticket or even permit machine and conductors who can't be arsed to come out of their cabs.

Yet strangely enough despite the staff shortages there are plenty of green suits available to strut around at New Street dishing penalty fares out.

[andy]

The onus is on YOU to approach the guard if you require a ticket as it says in the NRCoC, not the other way round

And how are you supposed to do that when it's a 2 unit train, you get on the rear train to find that he is on the front one? You sound like the jobsworths themselves...The NRCoC is no use to somebody who can't buy a ticket at the station, can't get to the conductor because he's on a different train and is only making a 10 minute journey. Rubbish.

[danny]

i dissagree it is an inspectors job to INSPECT i by my train tickets when i could quite easily jump the train and as i often see people doing it and not getting copped, why should i couth up for someone not doing their job properly and then some jobsworth getting a kick out of exploiting thier companys failings

[Tony]

i dissagree it is an inspectors job to INSPECT i by my train tickets when i could quite easily jump the train and as i often see people doing it and not getting copped, why should i couth up for someone not doing their job properly and then some jobsworth getting a kick out of exploiting thier companys failings

Perhaps you could tell that to London Midland who tell their conductors they do not have to come out of the back cab after a certain time in the afternoon, even on lines like mine which has unmanned stations. It is basically a free service between Walsall and Rugeley after 6pm. London Midland are gradually becoming one of the worst train operators of privatisation for customer service side of things.
Of course their twitter feed won the 'putting customers first' award so they think they are wonderful

[Tomjusttom]

i dissagree it is an inspectors job to INSPECT i by my train tickets when i could quite easily jump the train and as i often see people doing it and not getting copped, why should i couth up for someone not doing their job properly and then some jobsworth getting a kick out of exploiting thier companys failings

Perhaps you could tell that to London Midland who tell their conductors they do not have to come out of the back cab after a certain time in the afternoon, even on lines like mine which has unmanned stations. It is basically a free service between Walsall and Rugeley after 6pm. London Midland are gradually becoming one of the worst train operators of privatisation for customer service side of things.
Of course their twitter feed won the 'putting customers first' award so they think they are wonderful

They have to think about safety...or would you rather have a train cancelled due to a guard being injured by a potential yob?

[andy]

i dissagree it is an inspectors job to INSPECT i by my train tickets when i could quite easily jump the train and as i often see people doing it and not getting copped, why should i couth up for someone not doing their job properly and then some jobsworth getting a kick out of exploiting thier companys failings

Perhaps you could tell that to London Midland who tell their conductors they do not have to come out of the back cab after a certain time in the afternoon, even on lines like mine which has unmanned stations. It is basically a free service between Walsall and Rugeley after 6pm. London Midland are gradually becoming one of the worst train operators of privatisation for customer service side of things.
Of course their twitter feed won the 'putting customers first' award so they think they are wonderful

They have to think about safety...or would you rather have a train cancelled due to a guard being injured by a potential yob?

If that's how they want it they should staff stations and install the correct machines. If they don't want to do that and the guards want to stay locked away then they should get rid of barriers and ticket checkers at the stations. They can't have it both ways, although they obviously think they can.

[Tony]

i dissagree it is an inspectors job to INSPECT i by my train tickets when i could quite easily jump the train and as i often see people doing it and not getting copped, why should i couth up for someone not doing their job properly and then some jobsworth getting a kick out of exploiting thier companys failings

Perhaps you could tell that to London Midland who tell their conductors they do not have to come out of the back cab after a certain time in the afternoon, even on lines like mine which has unmanned stations. It is basically a free service between Walsall and Rugeley after 6pm. London Midland are gradually becoming one of the worst train operators of privatisation for customer service side of things.
Of course their twitter feed won the 'putting customers first' award so they think they are wonderful

They have to think about safety...or would you rather have a train cancelled due to a guard being injured by a potential yob?

Now you are talking complete crap. Every other train company's conductors come out in the evening. I have to check tickets in the evening. Are you saying all evening train services should be free?
All you need is good conflict avoidance training. If you walk along a train and someone says they are not paying you don't have to challenge them, you just report it or get assistance if you can. That is no excuse for not collecting fares from people willing to pay.

What is the conductor on the train for if he is not going to move from the back cab. Put a few mirrors up and make the line DOO like trains in the South East if all they are going to do is operate the doors, at least we wouldn't get this current farce because some someone on £26,000 a year was unavailable just to press a button to open the doors