Latest developments

Today, GTR are meeting with the government to discuss the current problems. OUR problem is that GTR and the government seem to want the same thing, and it’s not what we want. This link https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/113871 is a government petition, which was opened before the current problems caused by GTR’s abysmal response to a dispute with staff, was calling for the end of GTR’s contract to run Southern railways. It has run its six months and is closed. It has a government response added now, which fails to take into account the current situation. We can draw two conclusions from this: one is that the government has no intention of stepping in, and is quite happy to let GTR use customer frustration as an aid to attacking their staff. To someone with no heart and no conscience, this is a logical conclusion. GTR’s plan to “solve the problems” is to replace staff with technology in as many cases as they can, regardless of the fact that both staff and passengers prefer a human interface. On the crowded platforms and hard-pressed services in the South and South East, GTR’s plan cannot avoid causing the occasional terrible accident (where, for example, drivers fail to spot accidents on the platform edge at the moment of dispatch), regular delay and inconvenience (where people cannot get the tickets they want from machines, or people who need assistance can’t book it in time so cannot travel) and vast amounts of anxiety (people who travel alone are well aware of the increased incidences of crime and disorder on unstaffed platforms and trains.) So GTR and the government have decided what they want, and it is not what we want. This probably explains why my Conservative MP, Amber Rudd, has not rushed to reply to my communications about the current situation. I will send this message to Amber Rudd, put it out as an update on this petition, and share it on FB. Please share this update on your FB, Twitter etc pages. There are other petitions still running. Please keep signing and sharing them, write to your MP, and spread the word when you travel – Why are the trains thrown into chaos by a few over-stressed staff going off sick? · Because there are always unfilled vacancies. The company has never bothered to employ and train up enough staff. · Because they prefer to cancel a few trains, hoping that passengers will a) get angry with the staff and b) be persuaded that they’d be better off without guards. · Because the company has always relied on the goodwill of staff working rest-days to fill the gaps. That goodwill has gone. We need MORE staff and above all we need a new, more responsible management who think the wishes of their passengers and their staff matter.