Just a thought on the 78% staff availability number.
I don’t know how many days of holiday Northern drivers get, and I imagine it isn’t a consistent number because of the various different contracts they’ll be on, but it’s realistic to assume around 30 plus bank holidays. So that’s 38 days a year, out of 260 days a year (assuming a five day working week). So on that basis holidays would account for 38/260 = 14.6% absence.
At my work (logistics for a supermarket chain) the average sickness rate In normal times amongst our drivers is 4 to 6%. I don’t see any reason why lorry and train drivers shouldn’t be broadly similar in that respect.
So add those two together and you get between 18% and 20%, ie 80% to 82% available for work. They’re quoting 78% as the justification for operating a very significantly reduced service.
Doesn’t feel right to me
I don’t know how many days of holiday Northern drivers get, and I imagine it isn’t a consistent number because of the various different contracts they’ll be on, but it’s realistic to assume around 30 plus bank holidays. So that’s 38 days a year, out of 260 days a year (assuming a five day working week). So on that basis holidays would account for 38/260 = 14.6% absence.
At my work (logistics for a supermarket chain) the average sickness rate In normal times amongst our drivers is 4 to 6%. I don’t see any reason why lorry and train drivers shouldn’t be broadly similar in that respect.
So add those two together and you get between 18% and 20%, ie 80% to 82% available for work. They’re quoting 78% as the justification for operating a very significantly reduced service.
Doesn’t feel right to me