• Our new ticketing site is now live! Using either this or the original site (both powered by TrainSplit) helps support the running of the forum with every ticket purchase! Find out more and ask any questions/give us feedback in this thread!

Search results

  1. O

    GTR Shortage of Train Crew

    No there isn’t. The specific information I suggested is not there. Bar amount of executives. So let’s assume all 14 TOC’s have 12-20 Board members each. Well that’s an incredibly amount of salaries the DfT is paying for non operational staff with no real decision making ability. As someone who...
  2. O

    GTR Shortage of Train Crew

    It isn’t. This is a falsehood. Companies House doesn’t give such specifics. Have you never heard of the phrase ‘commercial confidentiality’? The ORR fact sheets would be a better place to start. But what I’ve described doesn’t exist. And I suspect you knew that already.
  3. O

    GTR Shortage of Train Crew

    Do you have a link for any?
  4. O

    GTR Shortage of Train Crew

    Well I’ve done 20+ years and the volume of managers and back office functions has only increased during that time. Look at Scotrail. Maybe you’re lucky to work for an efficient one. But that’s far from the reality I’ve seen. Also not all call centres are low skilled. Some pretty complex things...
  5. O

    GTR Shortage of Train Crew

    The rail industry is insane. Look how other industries work. It would make more sense to have more frontline staff and then use technology to manage them. The Rail industry is totally backwards. Like 20 years plus behind. Walk into any fulfilment or call centre. Most are 24/7/365 these days...
  6. O

    BBC Panorama programme on HS2 Monday 16th September at 8PM

    I know a girl who works in the comms team at HS2. A decade ago she told me it was a ****ing ****show. So no suprises really.
  7. O

    BBC1 Drama Nightsleeper

    I watched the first one and was bored.
  8. O

    ASLEF - LNER drivers to strike every Sat & Sun for 3 months from 31 Aug - Now called off

    The big inefficiency is this recruiting below headcount nonsense. I joined in 2003. Before that I worked for a Canadian company who outsourced call centres. Our rostering tools looked space age to the railways even 22 years ago. We managed to roster 2000 employees 24/7/365 with an office of five...
  9. O

    Redundancy

    There’s been a massive increase in back office staff in recent years. Duplication of functions etc. it could all be slimmed down. The HR dept at my current franchise is three times the size of the HR dept of the franchise I started with in 2002. But we aren’t employing three times more frontline...
  10. O

    Rail strikes discussion

    So I’m sickening for suggesting there’s too many marketing people sending crap through my door. To the point that I’m expected to take up a drop in living standards. Ha I’d start with the over bloated internal comms department. Sending a rainforest through my letterbox. Endless surveys, all...
  11. O

    Rail strikes discussion

    My problem is waste. There’s plenty of money for a pay deal. The TOC I work for has sent an absolute rainforest of crap through my letterbox in the last month. Tons of glossy brochures and printed books. All stuff I could read as a PDF on my iPhone. If we are all nationalised why has every...
  12. O

    Phone speaker noise on trains - have we given up completely?

    “A lady had YouTube on” What would you do with a drunken football fan who’s team have just lost? 1652277324 A lot of armchair tough guys on here. Last week a colleague asked a fare evader if he needed help with his ticket. He had the crap beaten out of him and it took six people to get the guy...
  13. O

    Phone speaker noise on trains - have we given up completely?

    In 2017 I called out a drunken middle aged male passenger on a late night train for harassing a 15 year old girl. This culminated in me almost having near fisticuffs on the platform at Kettering in the dead of night. Part of getting this guy away from the girl was calling out his behaviour. But...
  14. O

    Why does Rail recruitment take so long?

    A mate of mine has just joined another TOC as a guard. He’s already safety critical. The process has taken over 7 months. Talking to some new starters it appears with talent pools etc. recruitment took close to 18 months. I have a family friend who is in the Foreign & commonwealth office as a...
  15. O

    Severance roll-out

    I’ve heard only 15 people at one TOC got it. Despite dozens applying. Seems a bit of a damp squib.
  16. O

    Network Rail bets on mindfulness (and err...Greggs) to lure commuters back

    It won’t happen. People simply don’t need offices. My wife has worked from home for the last two years. So have many friends. Another mate has just been taken on by his old employer part time for a higher rate of pay. Because they want him to work remotely. Ten years ago he was in Bloomsbury...
  17. O

    Severance roll-out

    I’ve done 18.5 years. For that I’d get just under a years salary. It would be enough to start a small business perhaps. I think because employers don’t understand what we actually do (thanks lazy media). That would be the best option.
  18. O

    Severance roll-out

    It seems a bit weird. If you’re keeping all operational staff. Is the industry really that bloated in head office staff and NR/RDG office bods? The world of work is changing so are they just going to make operational staff compulsory redundant? It all seems a bit suss. Make this big media...
  19. O

    How to Go Part Time if health is a worry?

    Apologies for my first post being so serious. I've been on the railway with the same TOC for close to 15 years. After a few things happening at work. I've suffered a fairly nasty bout of depression I have returned to work. But to be honest as much as there are times where I love the job. I...

Top