I said it wasn't allowed where? I appreciate that you consider Guards to be the 'Knights of the Railway', presumably with great power, but 'doing a few shuttles' isn't something you just do because you feel like it. Control would decide whether they wanted to run shuttles. They'd have to sort out headcodes and timings for such a thing, if it fitted the bigger picture. The Signaller would also have to be involved. You'd also need a Driver... Why you think the Guard at the bottom of the food chain is the one who should be calling the shots, but isn't because they're lazy/hate passengers, I don't know... Those nasty Guards, hey. :roll:
In my experience guards and drivers are invariably willing to go above and beyond when trains are disrupted, whether they can or whether their control has other ideas is a different matter.
But certainly my experience has been that if trains get terminated on route, break down or whatever the onboard staff usually do all they can to get passengers on their way, and will suggest to signallers/control etc practical solutions to the problem that has arisen. In theory Control has a view of the bigger picture and therefore may make them do something else.
The onboard and dispatch staff are the customer facing staff and are therefore most likely to come in to contact with irate passengers, its no surprise some may be reluctant to help following abuse they have received before. Its also no surprise that they are currently prepared to work less overtime, and (maybe who knows what the true facts are) less prepared to work when feeling under the weather and calling in sick is an option. The circumstances may of course be resulting in stress related illnesses among staff to.
Personally I am disappointed that guards haven't done more ticket checking over the last few years, and particularly now (although I understand its difficult heard a report yesterday of not showing their ticket as it was on strike), but that doesnt mean I think they should go.
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I think in the circumstances what both parties should agree to is existing guards can retain their jobs on the same hours, without any pay cuts, until the end of the franchise but they need to accept the driver may be asked to undertake door duties.
However thats what Southern are saying, Guards can do a similar role (OBS) which doesnt involve dispatch or doors but do same hours with no pay cuts.
The question though must be why are Southern going through all this pain, and cost, to end up with the same number of staff at the same cost? There is plainly a cost saving reason hidden somewhere as otherwise they wouldnt be doing it.
As regards is DOO safer or not, statistics are very difficult to find. If of course you are the person trapped and dragged by a DOO train then you are not going to be in favour of it. My personal view is that a guard is likely to be more able to see a trapped person because they have to get on the platform, that a gives them more of a view but b also makes the roll of checking less automatic and habit. Incidents of trap and drag with a DOO train generally seem to say the trapped person was visible to the driver but not seen.
Then of course there is the argument that its not just dispatch........
. I can see why staff morale would be bad, working in that kind of environment.
