Telegraph: Staff Travel 'angers commuters'

[Matt Taylor]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/road-and-rail-transport/8729312/Half-a-million-rail-workers-enjoy-free-or-discounted-travel.html

Not entirely sure why this 'no news' story is in the Telegraph as it just seems to be a thinly veiled attack on rail staff and the benefits that we enjoy. They seem to be advocating the curtailment of Priv travel on the basis that it contributes towards the increases in fares that people are unhappy about.

I'm going to go into ASDA tomorrow and tell the staff that my bills are artificially inflated due to the 10% staff discount they get, I'm sure it'll go down well.

 

[SS4]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/road-and-rail-transport/8729312/Half-a-million-rail-workers-enjoy-free-or-discounted-travel.html

Not entirely sure why this 'no news' story is in the Telegraph as it just seems to be a thinly veiled attack on rail staff and the benefits that we enjoy. They seem to be advocating the curtailment of Priv travel on the basis that it contributes towards the increases in fares that people are unhappy about.

I'm going to go into ASDA tomorrow and tell the staff that my bills are artificially inflated due to the 10% staff discount they get, I'm sure it'll go down well.

The Torygraph is attacking the railways? Well I never :P

You said it yourself it's a non story (I don't hold priv so not biased) so I'm not gonna get angry over more crap reporting.

 

[lyesbkz]

I have no problems with any rail staff having discounted (or even free) travel. However I do find it a little bit over the top when spouses and dependants receive the same benefit.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

I don't hold priv so not biased

See, the least they could do would be to take PRIV off the dependents and spouses and give all railway staff PRIV, surely this would've made more sense?

 

[wintonian]

A very biased piece, no mention of the fact that in most cases it is only the SOS SDR etc. That are discounted and that SO's and often SDR's for example are cheaper still if you hold another railcard.

You could be forgiven by the use of the phrase top price fare, for thinking they all had first class privs

 

[dk1]

Ha ha, we were lauging at this at work earlier. Good job one rag commented that us good old ex-BR folk are safeguarded under the 1993 Railways Act. I think they should all go & whistle til they run out of puff.

Must be a very very low news day

 

[Ferret]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/road-and-rail-transport/8729312/Half-a-million-rail-workers-enjoy-free-or-discounted-travel.html

Not entirely sure why this 'no news' story is in the Telegraph as it just seems to be a thinly veiled attack on rail staff and the benefits that we enjoy. They seem to be advocating the curtailment of Priv travel on the basis that it contributes towards the increases in fares that people are unhappy about.

I'm going to go into ASDA tomorrow and tell the staff that my bills are artificially inflated due to the 10% staff discount they get, I'm sure it'll go down well.

My thoughts on this aren't even printable. All I can say is almost every job has a perk somewhere along the way. I suggest whichever ****e journalist that wrote that piece learns to deal with that fact....

 

[barrykas]

I have no problems with any rail staff having discounted (or even free) travel. However I do find it a little bit over the top when spouses and dependants receive the same benefit.

Surprised they didn't mention TfL staff, dependents and nominees getting free travel on the Underground, Overground, DLR, London Buses, Tramlink and selected NR routes! And, of course, LU staff who entered service before 1st April 1996 also get PRIVs on NR.

Mind you, the real shocker is Travel Agents and NRES staff, who can get discount authority documents entitling them to 75% off most walk-up fares, including Off-Peak and Super Off-Peak!

Having said that, thanks to certain companies charging over the top Anytime fares, it's sometimes not worth using a PRIV anyway. Here's an example:

London Terminals - Manchester Airport (route Any Permitted): Anytime Return £283.00 (£70.75 PRIV)
Off-Peak Return : £70.00 (£17.50 TADA/NADA!)
Advance Single: From £12.50 (route VWC & Connections)

Cheers,

Barry

 

[Chew Chew]

What a load of rubbish. It is a perk of the job and loads of jobs come with perks.

Just like if you work for BT you get free broadband, work for Sky you get free full package Sky TV etc etc.

 

[graham43404]

I work for Tesco and get 10% staff discount, it is seen as a perk of the job and a benefit that goes into the whole wage structure.

I would guess that the amount "lost" to the rail companies from the Priv card is a drop in the ocean compered to the amount lost due to fare evasion. Maybe the Telegraph should concentrate there efforts on people like that rather than decent hard working rail staff who deserve this perk.

 

[ivanhoe]

I work at a sewage plant. I'd rather not discuss my perks!

 

[graham43404]

I work at a sewage plant. I'd rather not discuss my perks!

I bet there pretty poo really

 

[Matt Taylor]

From Careers@Telegraph:

"All Telegraph employees receive a competitive salary and bonus scheme (where applicable). We also offer a generous benefits package which includes: Bupa Healthcare, Pension, 25 days Holiday (rising to 30 days after first three years of service), Life Assurance and Personal Health Insurance. In addition to the above core benefits we also offer the following non-contractual benefits to employees: In-house GP, Physiotherapists, In-house Masseuse, In-house Gym and onsite Studio Classes, Employee Assistance Programme, Dental Care Scheme, Bikes to Work Scheme, and Season Ticket Loans.


Pot, Kettle, Black?

 

[yorksrob]

Would it be cynical of me to suggest that this might be a tactic to distract attention away from Gmt policy on train fares

 

[es373]

What a load of balls. I think we all deserve it. Mcdonalds ((and others)) employees get staff discount so what's the problem?

 

[oattam09]

From Careers@Telegraph:

"All Telegraph employees receive a competitive salary and bonus scheme (where applicable). We also offer a generous benefits package which includes: Bupa Healthcare, Pension, 25 days Holiday (rising to 30 days after first three years of service), Life Assurance and Personal Health Insurance. In addition to the above core benefits we also offer the following non-contractual benefits to employees: In-house GP, Physiotherapists, In-house Masseuse, In-house Gym and onsite Studio Classes, Employee Assistance Programme, Dental Care Scheme, Bikes to Work Scheme, and Season Ticket Loans.


Pot, Kettle, Black?

The report was about 'likely anger of commuters' rather than their own personal attack on rail staff. Therefore your comment about their benefits system is not relevant. The article is not news however, and this will be reflected by the lack of people who read it!

 

[michael769]

From Careers@Telegraph:

"All Telegraph employees receive a competitive salary and bonus scheme (where applicable). We also offer a generous benefits package which includes: Bupa Healthcare, Pension, 25 days Holiday (rising to 30 days after first three years of service), Life Assurance and Personal Health Insurance. In addition to the above core benefits we also offer the following non-contractual benefits to employees: In-house GP, Physiotherapists, In-house Masseuse, In-house Gym and onsite Studio Classes, Employee Assistance Programme, Dental Care Scheme, Bikes to Work Scheme, and Season Ticket Loans.


Pot, Kettle, Black?

And I'll wager they don't have to pay for their newspapers....

 

[oattam09]

And I'll wager they don't have to pay for their newspapers....

That's a punishment, not a perk!

 

[wintonian]

The report was about 'likely anger of commuters' rather than their own personal attack on rail staff. Therefore your comment about their benefits system is not relevant. The article is not news however, and this will be reflected by the lack of people who read it!

Well it sounded like an attack to me.

Anyone posted the torygraphs benift package on the comments page yet?

 

[Metroland]

The BR scheme was just to fill up the odd spare seat (in fact it wasn't even that as you had to give up your seat if the train is full) and was just a small perk from the days of £200 a week drivers and £130 a week guards to make the job a little more attractive.

Considering that pensioners get unlimited free bus travel, and many companies/public service bodies have company car schemes, private healthcare, product discounts, free food, to name but a few things it's hardly scandal of the century some workers get the equivalent of a couple of rail rovers in perks...

These days, some companies like NR, have zero staff travel.

 

[shedman]

I wonder if a fraction of us half a million rail workers were to protest outside their building about their perks, would they print that as news?

 

[Markdvdman]

I work for buyology and get 15% off.

You work for the rail so what? A perk is a perk?

The Daily Telegraph should mind their own flaming business!!!

I have gripes against some railway workers, but the majority are absolutely brilliant!!!!

You deserve all you get in my eyes as it is a thankless task!!!

 

[jon0844]

I bet there pretty poo really

But it's all-you-can-eat!!

Anyway - back to the story: To be fair, I don't see the harm in a paper reporting that a lot of people are unhappy with people getting perks while they're paying more.

I'd say that this IS a story, but a good paper will be balanced and report that fact and then give the industry a chance to give its side of the story and explain the very things brought up here.

Sure, such a story may not have appeared on a busier news day, but that's the way the media goes and I bet we've all read stories about other people/industries that we have no involvement in and not considered the equivalent forum full of people saying the same things as on here!!

 

[Greenback]

But it's all-you-can-eat!!

Anyway - back to the story: To be fair, I don't see the harm in a paper reporting that a lot of people are unhappy with people getting perks while they're paying more.

They don't seem to be reporting that, though. They only say that commuters are 'bound' to be unhappy.

 

[WatcherZero]

I dont think anyone minds the 80,000 current rail workers who enjoy the perk, its like retail discount, free food, etc...

The main anger is at the 82,000 mostly former BR workers who have passes for life who may have retired 20 or more years ago, that kind of staff benefit (worth potentially thousands a year) is whats considered outrageous. In an age where final salary pensions or six digit wages have become politically unacceptable these kind of benefits for life are bound to draw attention.

 

[Greenback]

I don't think that is outrageous. I think it more outrageous that dependents get Privs!

 

[BestWestern]

The report was about 'likely anger of commuters' rather than their own personal attack on rail staff. Therefore your comment about their benefits system is not relevant. The article is not news however, and this will be reflected by the lack of people who read it!

The report was not about 'likely anger', it was clearly attempting to induce 'likely anger' by highlighting something which is actually of no real relevance at all, but which could be dangled in front of some easily-led newspaper readers as a legitimate avenue down which to vent their rage at fares increases.

What a load of b*ll*cks, frankly. As people have already quite rightly said, the vast majority of employees of any firm who retail something will qualify for a discount, why should it be any different on the railways? How depressingly pathetic that our glorious press are now marching down the avenue of attempting to make it personal with railway staff, rather than embracing the truths about the origins of the excessive costs and blatant poor strategy which marrs the industry, something which a fairly intelligent newspaper such as this really ought to be able to discuss.

Alternatively, at a lower, more newspaper-friendly level, why not highlight instead the scandalous cost of providing free bus travel to pensioners nationwide, a needless, unfair and plainly unsustainable scheme which is crippling both local authorities and small bus operators alike right across the country, and which affects not just users of the service but the wider taxpayer as well. I see no problem with pensioners paying half fare as they did before, this still represents a fair deal. Of course, the fact that papers might risk offending their readership has nothing to do with the direction of their storytelling....

Thank goodness the self-importance of journalists is realised only in their own minds and not in the real world that we actually live our lives in :roll:

 

[66526]

I don't think that is outrageous. I think it more outrageous that dependents get Privs!

Sorry if I outrage you

 

[lyesbkz]

Sorry if I outrage you

I think the argument was aimed at the fact that dependents receive PRIVs and more critically geared toward the system than those individuals who actually hold the dependent PRIV cards.

 

[bb21]

Would it be cynical of me to suggest that this might be a tactic to distract attention away from Gmt policy on train fares

Tory government, tory mouthpiece. Make up your own mind

 

[es373]

There's still nothing wrong with spouses/children etc of railway employee's receiving priv rate fares...