GWR - words fail me after today!

Fri 27 Sep, 13:21 (last edited on Fri 27 Sep, 13:42)

Oh dear. It becomes sooo predictable. So please lets stop doing The Daily Rail (the other kind of railing that is ...) Murdochian ToryReform nonsense blaming the worker and, the real hate union because its not legitimate power being exercised by our Better Class (sic) of person. - that is the beta noir of Organised Labour. 

The fault lies, of course and always, with Management and years and years and years of Cuts and Underinvestment and reckless heed to Safety Regulations.

Having known railway operating staff from Waterloo amongst my friends in our London years phase and talked at length with Drivers, Guards, Station Master level staff, Signalmen (sic) (now maybe some signal women as inside every little boy lies a frustrated Train Engineer and some girls too at least if my grown up daughter was indicative in wanting to be like Driver Ann in GWS in Didcot). 

There are things called Regulations designed for Safety which mandate compulsory periods for Food and Rest so accidents probabilities are reduced and preferably eliminated as the by-far greatest cause or contribution is operator fatigue and inadequate nutrition.

So the Driver probably had a mandatory rest and nutrition break after being on for too long due to system failure and lack of backup planning cut beyond the bone. Or he'd be breaking the Law (and in London bases drivers often did just that to get stock rolling anyway at risk of disciplining) and as history tells distressingly often, and it's no farce when it reoccurs with broken bodies.

So why was there not another driver rostered up for duty if, say, a delay meant that delayed train's driver was late and was mandatorily needing a break to eat.

Political choices to cut public money is why (and watch 85+% of "saved" dosh slide down the funnel to the 1%) and to successfully manipulate the minds of the poor saps stuck in train - so as to get them to heap blame onto, of course, the little person who would be in breach of the law. 

Very useful political trick that,  drawing the attention and ire of the  propaganda warped minds. Because "little people"  blaming is so much safer than pointing a finger at The Big Man (and "his" armed enforcers, i.e the power of the State). 

Management and Resources are the "why" there aren't enough trained staff too safely keep things rolling, rostering with enough reserves and contingency backups if delays backed up and chain up over the badly maintained rail, trains, signals, staff displaced out of planned locations, running out of personal driving time allowances and on and so forth.

So the poor basxxxx in the Station knew if he said the real why the driver was eating now and not able to pull off downline- he'd lose his job. So he was stuck having to speak lies.

You can bet Mails and Murdoch media wouldn't have reported his dismissal either....