...to think that "due to no member of train crew being available" is NOT a good excuse for contant train delays/cancellations!

[gagamama]

I have encountered no fewer than five trains so far this week where "due to no member of train crew being available" has been given as a reason for lengthy delays or cancellations. Just look at the 'Service Updates' section on this page - I know it's flu season and everything, but surely they should have contigencies in place for when their entire workforce calls in sick?! And some of the trains they're publicising as being delayed are more than 6 hours away -surely that's enough time to draft in some kind of temp?

So, AIBU or is there some reason why there is seemingly a defecit of train drivers?!

Right, my Dad the fat controller says First Capital Connect have stuffed up. Apparently they are making their best-ever profits, paying an enhanced dividend and fat bonuses for directors while telling drivers they will get no pay rise for two years running. Hardly surprising that drivers aren't keen to help out, then. It's the old the people who actually do the job and create the profits getting zip while the bosses cream off the rewards.

FCC are also running very high vacancy levels for drivers so have to rely on goodwill - people working overtime. No doubt this saves the company £££££ which funds those fat bonuses and enhanced dividends.

They have also changed the shift pattern so instead of working five days drivers work longer shifts over four. Which adds to the problem of covering every service when you don't have enough drivers to start with.

So ultimately I think FCC are the baddies here, drivers are legitimately pissed off and it's the poor bloody passengers who suffer.

P.S. My father is not a driver and does not work with FCC so is fairly even-handed on this.

Thanks for that, edam. I assumed it would be something like that once I realised it was large-scale employment issue rather than mass illness! It's shocking when companies use the excuse of the recession to treat their employees like shit whilst bringing in higher profits than ever. I'm also suprised that their franchise terms don't stipulate that they have to run X% of timetabled trains every day or face penalties. Surely you can't continue to take full fares and then run half the trains and pay half the staff?

National Express have been forced to hand over their franchise and the East Coast and East Anglia trains are being state run until sometime in 2010... I'm intruiged to see how this will affect service on these lines and whether nationalisation would be the better option.

According to someone interviewed by the Today programme, the govt. had to approve them cutting half their services, and is doing this on a day-by-day basis. Suppose they didn't have much choice practically but sticks in the throat, rather. I hope someone in govt. is telling the company to stop being so shitty but doubt it.

As for re-nationalisation, that's already been done and shown to work with one company in the South East - think Connex had to give up the South Eastern franchise for being shit? Public ownership improved the service dramatically for less money but bloody Blair/Brown obsession with privatisation meant it went into the private sector.

Bump this thread for any of the poor FCC commuters who want to have a good moan about the 'service' in the last few days.

Yesterday they were (I think) the only operator running an emergency timetable because of the snow and it was chaos at Kings Cross - trains were too full to get on a good 10 mins before they were due to leave. And I hear it was ten times worse on the Thameslink.

Ooh, I started a new scathing thread about this yesterday. It wasn't even below freezing yesterday and there were NO trains on the Thameslink route. Unbelievable. I'm sure they're just using the weather as a ruse to avoid having to pay drivers. They're running today but still operating some kind of 'emergency' timetable.

Sorry, this is the thread.

First Crapital Disconnect, no trains again today

www.firstcrapitalconnect.co.uk/

The GN line was running OK today but I looked at the TL and I see it's the usual shambles.

Arghh. Train I was on this morning was two hours late into work. Just as we were rolling into Blackfriars it was announced to passengers that all southbound Thameslink services are cancelled for the rest of the day... ie. everyone's train home! Wonderful.

Loving that website!

They are truly rubbish. Pls sign the petition to strip First Capital of their franchise:

petitions.number10.gov.uk/FirstCC/