Caledonian Sleeper

[AntoniC]

I am a Civil Servant, and personally know of someone who was convicted of an £80,000 tax repayment fraud.
Said person lost his pension after his pension following his conviction and sentence (person had done 20 years +) after a decision by the appropriate Government Minister.

 

[Deafdoggie]

It would appear they did report for duty, although the media stopped short of saying drunk, simply that they reported for work having been drinking. But as no train appeared to have been cancelled, it does make you wonder when it was picked up, which is probably why Serco had to revise their testing procedure.

 

[Surreytraveller]

I’m going to check that out then; I know someone who lost the company contributions to his pension (being distinct from his own contributions), when he left on Gross Misconduct. It was quite a case study.

I would be interested (not that I'm planning on getting sacked!). There's certainly no mention of it on the RPS website

 

[Surreytraveller]

It would appear they did report for duty, although the media stopped short of saying drunk, simply that they reported for work having been drinking. But as no train appeared to have been cancelled, it does make you wonder when it was picked up, which is probably why Serco had to revise their testing procedure.

Unless they were acting on intelligence, and had another crew on standby ready

 

[ComUtoR]

I would be interested (not that I'm planning on getting sacked!). There's certainly no mention of it on the RPS website

I haven't heard of it happening in reality (I'm sure it has somewhere) but it is in my terms and conditions.

 

[InOban]

What worries me is that clearly the group thought they could get away with their activities. Which suggests to me that might have thought that it was nomal.. I suspect intelligence led the policing..

 

[Deafdoggie]

Serco do seem to be "in trouble" (for want of a better expression) for not policing it, so it strikes me that having that level of information and having a spare crew on standby means they were very on top of it! Unless it was such an issue that it had gone unnoticed for a long time previously.

 

[JonathanH]

The facility exists to recover money from people's pension arrangements in the case of fraud or theft. An example of a lien.

"a right to keep possession of property belonging to another person until a debt owed by that person is discharged."

 

[theironroad]

Only if they are safeguarded, and the resignation counts as a retirement.

While I'm not safeguarded, off the top of my head I seem to remember that if someone safeguarded resigns (not only to retire) and leaves the industry but returns to the industry within a specified period (can't remember if it's 12 or 24 months) then they can recover their safeguarded status.

 

[6Z09]

I don't think Serco screening policy will differ much from that across the industry, over the past forty years I have had several "for cause" tests but "randoms" are few and far between.
Even the few "randoms" I experienced were very likely intelligence led.

 

[Hooligan]

It would appear they did report for duty, although the media stopped short of saying drunk, simply that they reported for work having been drinking. But as no train appeared to have been cancelled, it does make you wonder when it was picked up, which is probably why Serco had to revise their testing procedure.

The train left Euston an hour and half late the night of the incident, around
3/4 weeks ago.

 

[MrEd]

The train left Euston an hour and half late the night of the incident, around
3/4 weeks ago.

Out of interest, how did they go about sourcing replacement staff at short notice? I can’t imagine that there are many spare hosts/team leaders available at either end of the route? Normally each half set runs with three hosts (one for every two sleeping cars) and a team leader in the lounge, with a safety critical guard in charge of the whole combined train. Obviously the safety critical guard has to be there, but can the train run in passenger service with fewer hosts if needed? Could the train run in passenger service with just the guard if absolutely necessary (admittedly this would mean no catering facilities, but would avoid the need to cancel the train)?

 

[Surreytraveller]

Out of interest, how did they go about sourcing replacement staff at short notice? I can’t imagine that there are many spare hosts/team leaders available at either end of the route? Normally each half set runs with three hosts (one for every two sleeping cars) and a team leader in the lounge, with a safety critical guard in charge of the whole combined train. Obviously the safety critical guard has to be there, but can the train run in passenger service with fewer hosts if needed? Could the train run in passenger service with just the guard if absolutely necessary (admittedly this would mean no catering facilities, but would avoid the need to cancel the train)?

My guess would be to step the Lowlander crew up to cover the Highlander with a late start, which would then buy another four or five hours to gather a crew for the Lowlander

 

[Caleb2010]

Can't see that happening, you'd have crews displaced all over the shop! Think you finish work at 7 and be Home by 8 only to end up 200 odd miles away etc.

In a lot of ways it must have had a certain amount of planning to have run both sleepers that night, besides only certain additional crew members were needed.

It would have been not too bad if it were a London based crew involved as a crew stepped up would still have the same day out, just somewhere else. And get back within an hour or so of the original duty However, had it have been a Scottish crew, the problems would have stacked up.

 

[jagardner1984]

Presumably the current advert for a Team Leader and Sleeper Hosts at Inverness answers where the home base was.

I suppose they must have some sort of standby arrangement anyway ? Otherwise surely when someone gets a cold, you can’t deliver services ?

 

[Surreytraveller]

Can't see that happening, you'd have crews displaced all over the shop! Think you finish work at 7 and be Home by 8 only to end up 200 odd miles away etc.

In a lot of ways it must have had a certain amount of planning to have run both sleepers that night, besides only certain additional crew members were needed.

It would have been not too bad if it were a London based crew involved as a crew stepped up would still have the same day out, just somewhere else. And get back within an hour or so of the original duty However, had it have been a Scottish crew, the problems would have stacked up.

Not necessarily. If there's a spare crew at Edinburgh, they relieve the Lowlander crew off the Highlander, who then get to finish early

 

[kkong]

The train left Euston an hour and half late the night of the incident, around
3/4 weeks ago.

The Inverness Courier article mentions "two incidents on separate trains".

 

[Hooligan]

The Inverness Courier article mentions "two incidents on separate trains".

4 Inverness crew at Euston and 1 London at Glasgow Central.

 

[PaxVobiscum]

No lounge car on 1M11 again tonight.
Anybody know what the problem is? I retired to the station pub so I’m not able to ask why at the moment.
This is not the first time I’ve had this happen - not a word on the Sleeper website. Surely they must have the ability to let people know before they turn up too late to get a kerry-oot to take on? Unless it’s a last minute failure of course, but it wasn’t the last twice it’s happened to me.

EDIT: I am informed that we have ‘an electrical problem - no lights’ (possibly no power, not sure).
Apparently our lounge car was fine last night when on the Edinburgh section but wouldn’t play ball tonight.
I may well wait till we’re joined up at Carstairs and trek through to the other Lounge.

 

[MrEd]

No lounge car on 1M11 again tonight.
Anybody know what the problem is? I retired to the station pub so I’m not able to ask why at the moment.
This is not the first time I’ve had this happen - not a word on the Sleeper website. Surely they must have the ability to let people know before they turn up too late to get a kerry-oot to take on? Unless it’s a last minute failure of course, but it wasn’t the last twice it’s happened to me.

EDIT: I am informed that we have ‘an electrical problem - no lights’ (possibly no power, not sure).
Apparently our lounge car was fine last night when on the Edinburgh section but wouldn’t play ball tonight.
I may well wait till we’re joined up at Carstairs and trek through to the other Lounge.

Unfortunately, it’s not too rare these days for one of the two lounge cars (or seated coaches) in a 16-car set to be out of use; I have noticed that Mk2 reliability is becoming a little more hit-and-miss these days, as is probably to be expected given their age (and the fact that some of the Mk2s at least have probably not undergone any major overhaul for some years). I have a feeling that if there were no lights, there would be no heating or electrical power to the kitchen either- it’s probably the motor alternator that has failed. Sometimes, if the Mk2s spend any length of time not connected to ETS or a shore supply, the motor alternators fail to restart which results in the situation you describe above.

 

[PaxVobiscum]

Some issues when coupling at Carstairs - looks like I’m destined not to get my haggis on this trip.

There was a lot of interest in and activity round the dead lounge car, but eventually whatever it was got fixed and we left about 15 late.

 

[Journeyman]

It's also possible to reach a 'compromise agreement' where employee and employer agree a contract termination without having to go through the hassle and expense of disciplinary action. Because these generally include confidentiality clauses, they're often preferred by both parties.

Yes, as usually it will result in you getting a neutral reference, rather than any prospective new employer being told you were sacked for gross misconduct.

 

[ajrm]

No lounge car on 1M11 again tonight.
Anybody know what the problem is? I retired to the station pub so I’m not able to ask why at the moment.
This is not the first time I’ve had this happen - not a word on the Sleeper website. Surely they must have the ability to let people know before they turn up too late to get a kerry-oot to take on? Unless it’s a last minute failure of course, but it wasn’t the last twice it’s happened to me.

Did you give them your mobile number when you booked? This happened to me recently and I received a text from CS doing precisely that: apologising for the inconvenience and suggesting that I might want to bring my own food and drink.

 

[Carlisle]

What worries me is that clearly the group thought they could get away with their activities. Which suggests to me that might have thought that it was nomal.. I suspect intelligence led the policing..

All very well rail employees confidentiality reporting others for allegedly being under the influence of drink or drugs at work, if it’s genuine, but all too often the employee passes the test or has a legitimate medical reason for failure and it subsequently emerges that private vendettas rather than overall safety concerns are the main issue

 

[gcmozart]

Booked on the southbound sleeper next Sunday from Dundee and got an email from Serco saying engineering works will affect my journey. We will arrive at Euston an houar and a quarter later than normal.

I was a little surprised that a journey with quite a lot of padding would be so affected time-wise is it really that costly diverting to ECML or is there more to it than that?

 

[Bald Rick]

Booked on the southbound sleeper next Sunday from Dundee and got an email from Serco saying engineering works will affect my journey. We will arrive at Euston an houar and a quarter later than normal.

I was a little surprised that a journey with quite a lot of padding would be so affected time-wise is it really that costly diverting to ECML or is there more to it than that?

Yes it’s that costly. It’s not the ECML itself, but the 1h40 minutes from Camden Road to Wembley for the run round, then back to Euston. (Even though it is only a mile as the crow flies, net).

 

[agbrs_Jack]

The website now has a new layout.
When did that change?

Still no seated coach plan for the new stock though

 

[Mathew S]

The website now has a new layout.
When did that change?

Since I last looked at it on Sunday, so either yesterday or today.

 

[alistairlees]

Since I last looked at it on Sunday, so either yesterday or today.

This morning

 

[TukayAway]

When the trains run via the NLL, does the loco run round at Wembley? Or is it top and tailed? I'll be on the Northbound Highlander in June and will be diverted this way.