Multiple trains one after the other cancelled due to 'staff shortages'

[hypercolius]

Yesterday when travelling from Leamington to Oakham at 6pm in the evening, multiple trains on this route got cancelled 'due to staff shortages'. I have never seen such a pathetic excuse for such incredible disruption on this network.
I do not want to offend anyone, but if a train cannot run because of a staff shortage and that staff member is not off sick or with other issues, that staff member should be fired on the spot. I had to fork out a huge amount of money yesterday to go an alternative route.

 

[yorksrob]

Yesterday when travelling from Leamington to Oakham at 6pm in the evening, multiple trains on this route got cancelled 'due to staff shortages'. I have never seen such a pathetic excuse for such incredible disruption on this network.
I do not want to offend anyone, but if a train cannot run because of a staff shortage and that staff member is not off sick or with other issues, that staff member should be fired on the spot. I had to fork out a huge amount of money yesterday to go an alternative route.

It does happen when the train company is in dispute with its staff. This has happened a lot over the last couple of years.

Of course, the powers that be could make this easier for passengers by relaxing routing restrictions, as they did during the pandemic, however for reasons known only unto themselves they have chosen not to.

 

[skyhigh]

I do not want to offend anyone, but if a train cannot run because of a staff shortage and that staff member is not off sick or with other issues, that staff member should be fired on the spot.

Right, so if a driver is just on their booked annual leave they should be fired on the spot?

 

[dk1]

Yesterday when travelling from Leamington to Oakham at 6pm in the evening, multiple trains on this route got cancelled 'due to staff shortages'. I have never seen such a pathetic excuse for such incredible disruption on this network.
I do not want to offend anyone, but if a train cannot run because of a staff shortage and that staff member is not off sick or with other issues, that staff member should be fired on the spot. I had to fork out a huge amount of money yesterday to go an alternative route.

Fired on the spot? How naive are you?

You sound like you are just having a grumpy old rant to me.

 

[LowLevel]

Yesterday when travelling from Leamington to Oakham at 6pm in the evening, multiple trains on this route got cancelled 'due to staff shortages'. I have never seen such a pathetic excuse for such incredible disruption on this network.
I do not want to offend anyone, but if a train cannot run because of a staff shortage and that staff member is not off sick or with other issues, that staff member should be fired on the spot. I had to fork out a huge amount of money yesterday to go an alternative route.

What a daft comment. The staff shortage is because there is no member of staff available. You can't fire someone who isn't there.

 

[Royston Vasey]

Yesterday when travelling from Leamington to Oakham at 6pm in the evening, multiple trains on this route got cancelled 'due to staff shortages'. I have never seen such a pathetic excuse for such incredible disruption on this network.
I do not want to offend anyone, but if a train cannot run because of a staff shortage and that staff member is not off sick or with other issues, that staff member should be fired on the spot. I had to fork out a huge amount of money yesterday to go an alternative route.

Firing staff isn't the best long term solution to staff shortages.

Also, sacked for not accepting voluntary overtime? Sacked for not having been rostered because someone messed up? Who do you want to sack because the TOC hasn't got round to training enough drivers for the stock and route?

Sacked for not existing in the first place?!

 

[skyhigh]

What a daft comment. The staff shortage is because there is no member of staff available. You can't fire someone who isn't there.

Exactly, train crew don't just not turn up for trains because they can't be bothered. Unless someone has turned up late for work I struggle to see how it's the fault of the crew (and even then, sometimes you're delayed due to no fault of your own).

 

[m0ffy]

How do you propose we fire someone who isn’t employed? That’s what a staff shortage is.

 

[12LDA28C]

Yesterday when travelling from Leamington to Oakham at 6pm in the evening, multiple trains on this route got cancelled 'due to staff shortages'. I have never seen such a pathetic excuse for such incredible disruption on this network.
I do not want to offend anyone, but if a train cannot run because of a staff shortage and that staff member is not off sick or with other issues, that staff member should be fired on the spot. I had to fork out a huge amount of money yesterday to go an alternative route.

A pointless rant. Have you considered that there may be a spike in staff sickness or simply not enough staff employed to operate the full service, as is often the case across various TOCs? Who are you going to 'fire on the spot' in that situation? Wait until next week to find out exactly what the consequences of not employing enough drivers has on the train service, with an O/T and RDW ban in place.

 

[Bletchleyite]

A pointless rant. Have you considered that there may be a spike in staff sickness or simply not enough staff employed to operate the full service, as is often the case across various TOCs? Who are you going to 'fire on the spot' in that situation?

Whoever in the TOC or DfT makes the decision that it's better to randomly cancel trains on the day than implement an operable, robust emergency timetable would be my first target.

The only advantage of doing it this way is that Delay Repay applies, but if the railway is that disrupted it's basically useless unless you've got all day.

 

[zwk500]

I do not want to offend anyone, but if a train cannot run because of a staff shortage and that staff member is not off sick or with other issues, that staff member should be fired on the spot.

Why are you firing the absent staff member but not touching the management structure that has allowed such a shortage to exist in the first place?

 

[jamiearmley]

As an aside, on the odd occasion that I have allowed management to persuade/bully/beg/harass me into working 13 days straight with 10/11 hour turns up to the maximum allowed by hidden, I have come across passengers shouting at me about cancellations and staff shortages, often mentioning that sacking train crew is the answer to the railways issues.

It's a highly unpleasant experience.

As a result, I work a lot less voluntary overtime than I used to.

Everyone's entitled to their own opinion, but consideration should always be given as to wether actually voicing said opinion is the best course of action to take.

 

[175001]

Ah this forum never fails to amuse at times

 

[superkopite]

I can't agree with the sentiment of sacking, but "cancelled service due to staff shortages" is the most pathetic excuse going

 

[Moonshot]

I can't agree with the sentiment of sacking, but "cancelled service due to staff shortages" is the most pathetic excuse going

So what excuse are they supposed to use if there is indeed a staff shortage ( which is very common) and a train service cannot run?

 

[Bletchleyite]

So what excuse are they supposed to use if there is indeed a staff shortage ( which is very common) and a train service cannot run?

It's better than the tautological and dishonest "due to a short notice change to the timetable" nonsense. But in a lot of cases "due to poor planning and poor industrial relations on our management's part" would be more honest.

 

[LMS 4F]

I can only presume the original poster has never worked in an industry where shift work is involved and there are rules about hours to be worked etc. One absence for whatever reason can have a knock on effect that lasts for hours and possibly into the next day. Easy to shout at the front line worker but more than likely a far more complicated situation than can be seen at the coal face.

 

[Lurcheroo]

Yesterday when travelling from Leamington to Oakham at 6pm in the evening, multiple trains on this route got cancelled 'due to staff shortages'. I have never seen such a pathetic excuse for such incredible disruption on this network.
I do not want to offend anyone, but if a train cannot run because of a staff shortage and that staff member is not off sick or with other issues, that staff member should be fired on the spot. I had to fork out a huge amount of money yesterday to go an alternative route.

Well this went down like a lead balloon hahahaha!
Ok we get you’re upset, the railway is incredibly frustrating at times and that’s very much due to mismanagement of it for years.

what I can’t quite understand is you say “if a train cannot run because of a staff shortage and that staff member is not off sick or with other issues, that staff member should be fired on the spot”.
This is a genuine question and not having a pop at you or anything like that.
What do you think a staff shortage is?

It’s not a staff member refusing to do the work they are contractually obliged to do.
It quite literally means there is not a person available to work that train.
Someone would have been rostered to work it, but they could have had a call that their mother has just died or they could have been assaulted by a member of the public earlier in their working day.

In the industry we have ‘spares’ people who’s days work is to come into the depot and have no planned trains to work but can do something should they be needed to a short notice.
Equally, if someone who has booked work (a full days worth of working trains if you like) and they book a day off (could be 6 months in advance, and are totally within their right to do. Holidays on the railway follow a strict number of rules and regulations agreed between the union and the TOC so that not too many people can book holiday on the same day and leave services uncovered)
then one of the ‘spares’ will be Allocated to their full day of work instead.
then if all the spares are used and someone calls in sick you’ve got no one spare to cover that work.

There are some nuances like cross deep to cover and rest day work but we won’t go into all the little details as it really starts to get complicated.

 

[ComUtoR]

I can't agree with the sentiment of sacking, but "cancelled service due to staff shortages" is the most pathetic excuse going

It's the most honest reason.

 

[dk1]

It's the most honest reason.

I’m not really sure how else you can dress it up. It is what it is, a shortage of staff.

 

[Lurcheroo]

It's the most honest reason.

TOC’s can’t win mate. If they’re honest it’s pathetic, if they lie then they’re liars.


For everyone’s benefit, I’ve also noticed that the original poster appears to be Russian which might explain why their views around sacking someone on the spot (even if that person to sack doesn’t actually exist) may contradict how a lot of people on this primarily UK based forum may feel.

 

[InkyScrolls]

Yesterday when travelling from Leamington to Oakham at 6pm in the evening, multiple trains on this route got cancelled 'due to staff shortages'. I have never seen such a pathetic excuse for such incredible disruption on this network. I do not want to offend anyone, but if a train cannot run because of a staff shortage and that staff member is not off sick or with other issues, that staff member should be fired on the spot. I had to fork out a huge amount of money yesterday to go an alternative route.

What a ridiculously stupid statement. You obviously have little to no life experience and apparently no grasp of corporate law, employment rights, or any sense of how the railway operates! I had to check it wasn't the first of April... Have you tried writing for the Daily Mail? They'd lap you up if you're able to produce such nonsense on demand, it's a rare skill.

 

[mangyiscute]

I also don't understand why you couldn't just ask the guard on any train heading to Birmingham to allow you to travel that route due to the cancellations, or even now you can ask WMR for a refund if you had to buy a new more expensive via Birmingham ticket. If you chose to travel by other means and not by train via Birmingham, WMR may still offer a refund for that if you ask them politely but I would question why you didn't just travel via Birmingham - I agree that having an hour added onto the journey is annoying, but these things happen, unfortunately.

 

[DerekC]

This little story illustrates rather well that the Government's strategy of blaming everything on the trades unions and railway staff is having some success. Many members of the public (including people interested enough in the industry to use this forum) think that "staff shortages" means that staff just haven't turned up for work. Of course the background of continuing industrial dispute which is frustrating the agreement of new working arrangements which don't depend on voluntary rest day working (as an example) isn't entirely this government's fault in its origins - but the fact that nothing is getting sorted out definitely is.

 

[whoosh]

I do not want to offend anyone, but if a train cannot run because of a staff shortage and that staff member is not off sick or with other issues, that staff member should be fired on the spot. I had to fork out a huge amount of money yesterday to go an alternative route.

You want to fire someone called 'Vacancy'?

I don't think you understand what a staff shortage is....


And if you want to fire an actual person, you'll create a staff shortage.


You should look into a career in railway management.

 

[Watershed]

Yesterday when travelling from Leamington to Oakham at 6pm in the evening, multiple trains on this route got cancelled 'due to staff shortages'. I have never seen such a pathetic excuse for such incredible disruption on this network.
I do not want to offend anyone, but if a train cannot run because of a staff shortage and that staff member is not off sick or with other issues, that staff member should be fired on the spot. I had to fork out a huge amount of money yesterday to go an alternative route.

I'm just trying to understand why you spent a lot of extra money to use an alternative route. What alternative route was this? What did you pay?

 

[Deafdoggie]

What I find irritating is when a train is cancelled at the last minute due to staff shortages (looking at you LNWR) surely they knew before it's departure time there were no staff? Particularly as it happens on a regular basis. Were they just hoping someone would drop in?

 

[Royston Vasey]

For everyone’s benefit, I’ve also noticed that the original poster appears to be Russian which might explain why their views around sacking someone on the spot (even if that person to sack doesn’t actually exist) may contradict how a lot of people on this primarily UK based forum may feel.

Its like one of those memes isnt it. "In Russia, train cancels you!"

 

[185]

A decision to totally abandon line 1 to run a full service on line 2 is the problem. Two certain operators I can think of have form for doing this - often abandoning longer distance intercity type services to protect the local services in their home city.

If passenger numbers on line 1 are so low, then the impact would be less and bustitution is fairly acceptable, but when passenger numbers are the same or higher - then the operator has made the wrong decision.

On the subject of last minute cancellations, this is a difficult one - from a short term planning perspective, this could be caused by disruption on another service utilising the spare driver/guard or a resources manager hoping to get an overtime volunteer only to get none.

 

[Deepgreen]

Yes, I'm afraid the OP appears to have been done in haste and anger, rather than considering the issue properly. Easily done, and, if nothing else, it probably reflects what so many passengers must feel, without understanding the background and where the blame truly lies. I imagine any significant extra cost/time incurred could be covered by 'Delay Repay' or similar.