A single member of staff...!?

[ollyrogers]

A member of train crew is unavailable, and all these services are cancelled/ bustituted!? Is this a typo within NRE or can one missing staff member really necessitate all these changes!?

19:02 Longbridge to Birmingham New Street
19:10 Rugeley Trent Valley to Birmingham New Street
19:50 Four Oaks to Redditch due
19:52 Longbridge to Birmingham New Street
19:57 Redditch to Lichfield Trent Valley
20:17 Birmingham New Street to Rugeley Trent Valley - a bus will run instead
20:27 Redditch to Lichfield Trent Valley
20:57 Redditch to Lichfield Trent Valley
21:17 Birmingham New Street to Rugeley Trent Valley - a bus will run instead
21:35 Rugeley Trent Valley to Birmingham New Street - a bus will run instead
22:17 Birmingham New Street to Rugeley Trent Valley - a bus will run instead
22:35 Rugeley Trent Valley to Birmingham New Street - a bus will run instead
22:47 Birmingham New Street to Walsall - a bus will run instead
23:18 Birmingham New Street to Hednesford - a bus will run instead
23:40 Walsall to Birmingham New Street - a bus will run instead

 

[WL113]

A member of train crew is unavailable, and all these services are cancelled/ bustituted!? Is this a typo within NRE or can one missing staff member really necessitate all these changes!?

19:02 Longbridge to Birmingham New Street
19:10 Rugeley Trent Valley to Birmingham New Street
19:50 Four Oaks to Redditch due
19:52 Longbridge to Birmingham New Street
19:57 Redditch to Lichfield Trent Valley
20:17 Birmingham New Street to Rugeley Trent Valley - a bus will run instead
20:27 Redditch to Lichfield Trent Valley
20:57 Redditch to Lichfield Trent Valley
21:17 Birmingham New Street to Rugeley Trent Valley - a bus will run instead
21:35 Rugeley Trent Valley to Birmingham New Street - a bus will run instead
22:17 Birmingham New Street to Rugeley Trent Valley - a bus will run instead
22:35 Rugeley Trent Valley to Birmingham New Street - a bus will run instead
22:47 Birmingham New Street to Walsall - a bus will run instead
23:18 Birmingham New Street to Hednesford - a bus will run instead
23:40 Walsall to Birmingham New Street - a bus will run instead

Sounds about right. Especially the Rugeley Line services, LM Cancel those if a guard sneezes.

 

[deltic1989]

I suppose if it's a safety critical member of staff then it could cause chaos like this.

 

[Surreytraveller]

I would have thought it would be more than one member of staff - one person couldn't be in one place at a time! The person putting the information on the website would only have a certain number of pre-approved excuses in the drop-down menu, and I wouldn't have thought there would be separate 'member' or 'members' to chose from.

 

[tsr]

I would have thought it would be more than one member of staff - one person couldn't be in one place at a time! The person putting the information on the website would only have a certain number of pre-approved excuses in the drop-down menu, and I wouldn't have thought there would be separate 'member' or 'members' to chose from.

As I understand it they can bypass the system that dictates what "excuses" they use (as with the current WHL and ECML disruption). I have seen the phrases "Unavailable train crew", "a shortage of train crew", "unavailable members of staff", etc., especially relating to Bedford-Bletchley services.

 

[ushawk]

Could be down to not having available staff for overtime to cover shifts of drivers/guards who cant work - i seriously doubt that its all 1 staff member.

 

[cuccir]

Surely TOCs have staff on stand by if they're that safety critical? A friend of mine who is a guard boasts about having shifts sat in an office playing Football Manager in case someone doesn't turn up...

 

[Surreytraveller]

There are only so many spare members of train crew sat around - if one person goes sick, one gets taken off track and no one want to work overtime - that can be all it takes to cause cancellations.

 

[Monty]

Surely TOCs have staff on stand by if they're that safety critical? A friend of mine who is a guard boasts about having shifts sat in an office playing Football Manager in case someone doesn't turn up...

True enough, we do have extra staff to act as cover in the event of someone calling in sick. It's more likely that a member of the train crew has fallen ill/gone awol/unfit to work during the course of a shift and because of where the train is they may not be able to get a replacement in quick enough to start/resume the service.

Nice to see everyone is pointing the finger at the guard. Drivers are not invincible either you know, just saying..

 

[313103]

Nice to see everyone is pointing the finger at the guard. Drivers are not invincible either you know, just saying..

Thats because we are the easier target.

 

[Ibex]

Not a good day for LM. 22:34 and 23:44 Euston to Northampton trains also cancelled.

 

[Beveridges]

One missing staff couldnt have caused this. He would have to be in more than one place at the same time, thats 15 different trains in 5 hours.

 

[142094]

Having too many staff sitting around waiting for someone to fall ill is obviously a waste of resources. Perhaps one or two to cover, but no more than that.

 

[Geezertronic]

Don't LM have a general issue with staff not volunteering to work on Sunday?

 

[ushawk]

Don't LM have a general issue with staff not volunteering to work on Sunday?

This was last night so not a Saturday, but i think TOCs do rely on staff to work overtime a fair bit - correct me if im wrong of course.

 

[O L Leigh]

These services could all have been cancelled due lacking a member of staff. However, it doesn't mean that they were all caused by missing the same member of staff.

O L Leigh