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GWR daily cancellations
- Thread starter evergreenadam
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Somehow due to the disruption today, the 17:25 Cardiff to Portsmouth service is formed of a 7 coach 158 between Cardiff and Bristol. The Filton Abbey Wood call has been dropped as this station can only hold five coaches of non-selective door opening stock.
Why not just run it is a 4 or 5 car with the appropriate number of coaches locked out? I mean, it would only have been booked 4 or 5 coaches anyway so no passenger loading issues.
It’s not so much that but the cost to the Treasury / DfT of bringing that overtime into the working week.
It was conveying the unit for 1F31, which had no driver to shunt it in to position at Bristol TM for 1F31 to start there.
Shed loads of disruption on the South Wales <> London route plus operationally at Bristol TM would've meant splitting 2 coaches, plus unlocking 3, all in 5 mins station time, shunting all the customers from one bit to the other in most cases.
In the end, other stuff went wrong and the main aim was not really met and 1F31 never ran!
£100k+, and self assessment, and a marginal 60% rate, is already a dead cert for quite a few of us, even with no further overtime between now and April.
It sounds like first world problems but, given recent inflation, mortgage hikes for many etc. £100k isn’t anything like as much as is used to be!
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Sly Old Fox
Member
I was under the impression that self assessment began at the 45% tax rate, which is £125kish
No, it begins at £100k…
You lose your personal allowance above that, 45% kicks in above that. It’s « cleaner » to go from, say, £125 - 160K.
I caught up in this today. An already extended journey time from Swansea to Paddington due to engineering works between Cardiff and Bridgend was eventually 4 hours & 15 mins because of additional stops after Bristol Parkway and longer dwell times due to the volume of passengers.
There was severe overcrowding after Bristol Temple Meads and a lot of shouting at passengers by platform staff at this station to get back from the train.
There was severe overcrowding after Bristol Temple Meads and a lot of shouting at passengers by platform staff at this station to get back from the train.
The threshold to self assess was raised to £150k from the 23/24 tax year.
https://www.gov.uk/self-assessment-tax-returns/who-must-send-a-tax-return
Thanks, that’s useful. I hopefully won’t need to do it this year.
OH is still having to do it, unfortunately, she’s paying 45% tax, also with some property income on top, that makes it more complicated, and requiring of an accountant.
First world problems, really, I do realise!
whoosh
Established Member
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I think the Treasury/DfT need to bite the bullet and bring Sundays into the working week. It was done (at DfTs insistance/request) at East Midlands Trains a few years ago. But only for Drivers. Train Managers on the Midland Mainline side still have committed overtime (that they constantly beg for others to take) for Sundays, and the ex-Central side Senior Conductors are a mix of committed to work for newbies, and voluntary for legacy.
It's a mess that needs sorting, and not just at GwR.
GNER meanwhile, back in the day... got a lot done in that respect, for many many grades.
Proper negotiations need to happen.
...is the correct answer.
Nicholas Lewis
Established Member
So Passenger in Chief Haigh is just going to stand on the sidelines why this mess unfolds every Sunday now for the foreseeable future is hardly fixing things fast. If she can't persuade Treasury to take risk on revenue not increasing suffciently then timetables on operators who dont have Sundays in the working week need to be reduced. Yes it will be inconvenient and not a good advert for the industry but then neither is overcrowded services and i would imagine a pretty hefty bill for delay repay.
Well effectively yes. It would cost probably £bn+ to sort and I imagine it isn't going to happen any time soon and would be a PR nightmare (I can just imagine the press headlines now...)
Timetables are already "being reduced" by cancellations, but yes if it goes on for a long-period a more realistic timetable should be built.
I don't think any of this is ideal and Sunday should absoutely be in the working week, but I'm also a realist.
i have long suspected the two are connected. Tax bands are (broadly) 20% up to £50k, thereafter 40% up to £125k, and 45% beyond. You can add your tax code to these amounts. It follows that as rail driver pay has risen, at above the overall industrial average, ever increasing pay amounts are falling into these higher tax bands, and being taken away again by the government. This particularly applies to voluntary overtime/Sunday work, which may be paid at a premium rate, but takes you into a higher tax band and the premium is all taken away from you again. So why bother.
Is she a passenger in chief? I’ve come to regard her more as a staff member in chief.
Whether that’s good or bad or not depends on your perspective, I guess
…It’s still more than the vast majority of people are earning, some of whom do significantly harder jobs. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve been a support of railway staff in general getting decent pay, but I think we’re at the limit of public sympathy when so many are passing 100k
Not your fault, but somebody has to take the hard first steps to fix this
Nicholas Lewis
Established Member
Its clear that on GWR and Northern just upping RDW payments will only be a short term palliative, if that, so timetables need to match likely resource availability and Haigh needs to decide what sort of railway she wants on a Sunday.
Agreed but the Passenger in Chief can't bury her head in the sand and ignore what is happening. A realist is somebody who acknowledges the issue and sets out a plan to deal with it.
NSEWonderer
Established Member
Who said she's not intending or has something in the works? Especially more so when the affected TOCs fall under GBR, which ideally would declutter a few obstacles.
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Careful not to fall into the all to easy trap of comparing job difficulties, especially if the comparison isn't remotely similar in variables.
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I should hope so too. It’s a far more responsible job than most. So I would expect to earn far more than most do, for undertaking the role.
Speaking as an ASLEF member, we aren’t after your sympathy, neither do we particularly require your support.
What problem do you think is going to be “fixed”, exactly?
Who said she is “burying her hand in the sand”? I am sure Labour have commented on Sunday fiascos and she’s probably been briefed on it already, if she hasn’t already had firsthand experience.
That’s not what a realist is - the issue can still be acknowledged and accepted and whilst trying to deal with it accordingly but with a full understanding of how that may be difficult to achieve, practically.
Stossgebet
Member
Maybe it depends on how many Sundays she has workedIs she a passenger in chief? I’ve come to regard her more as a staff member in chief.
Whether that’s good or bad or not depends on your perspective, I guess
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They are passing 100k because of doing lots of overtime, keeping the job going, then getting 2.5 years backpay in one tax year.
They wouldn't be near 100k if they weren't going above and beyond.
Pete_uk
On Moderation
Swindon to Cheltenham axis was a bit up the creek yeaterday.
ValleyLines142
Established Member
Units ran but no IETs.
There are a number of jobs out there that require shift work at all times for far less remuneration. We as a family got used to the fact that my missus would be working either Christmas Day or New Years Eve, and weekends were a normal working day. Never mind being asked to work extra if a colleague was sick. However, she was a lowly midwife!
I have no sympathy for the action taken on the way some of our railway is run. To actually blame any of this on the current Government is ridiculous.
If you’re returning at a weekend for whatever reason, you’ve made plans based on what trains are available. You don’t make a Plan B. As for some of the financial reasons given above, see how that goes down with emergency services, the branch of your local Tesco, etc.
Snow1964
Established Member
It also begins when you have other income, eg lettings, or want to claim allowances and tax breaks (eg cost of washing a uniform at home), extra (private) pension contributions etc. And there are certain things that can move to previous tax year to smooth your tax bill. So self assessment online is often done voluntarily so reduce tax bill
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The Secretary of State put out an announcement Sunday morning about the railways, so be careful about jest, suggesting doesn't do Sundays
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You don’t lose your personal allowance all at once beyond £100k, you lose it gradually with every thousand you go over £100k so by £125k you’ve completely lost it (both physically and metaphorically
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No other role I’ve ever seen have shifts like train crew shifts. Shift work is one thing, our shift work is something else. Bear in mind pretty much all train crew come from other professions and haven’t always been train crew, so it’s not like we’re in a little bubble.
Nicholas Lewis
Established Member
Me
In opposition Haigh was highly critical of operators and is still after the old favourites like Avanti despite its much improved performance. She may have been briefed but i suspect wont comment on it, or even acknowledge it, as its an area she can't fix fast but it will be a festering sore.so she needs to bite the bullet and at least state that our goal is a reliable 7 day railway. This is what SoS do set policy and then leave it to the industry to come up with a solution and time line to achieve it.
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