Yeah, bit how did the leaves get to the underground trains? Which live underground?

Crazy!

Zedsdead – Not all the underground system is underground! Large parts of the Picadilly, District and Central lines are above ground.

I know. I just thought it was funny.

But still…

Its OK with Dockland Trains everything was designed for this purpose
Where as the Underground is fall of patched up net works, and up dated systems
mixed with the old.
Thats why so many things go wrong including the signalling !

But something has to be done as there pay is getting way-out of control.

The average London salary is only slightly less than the average tube drivers salary (or more, depending on what figures you use)

The average salary is almost certainly a misleading figure though. Plenty of super-rich to skew the mean. What’s the modal salary bracket?

Zedsdead – Member

I’m still trying to work out how there would leaves on the track of an underground railway?…

Bob Crowe puts them there

Elf in ‘being spot on’ shocker 😉

Best

Tag

Ever.

Bob Crowe puts them there

I lolled!

Thats why so many things go wrong including the signalling

Now you see, its better for people to keep patching things up and charging/keeping staff in jobs than it is to fix it entirely.

Mild graphic content.

I wonder how an automated system would have dealt with the train I was driving one night earlier this year, which was crush loaded with a few hundred boisterous drunk M*n Un***d fans, people slightly inebriated going to Manchester for a night out and families who’d been to the seaside for the day going home.

About two thirds into the journey a bloke jumped in front of us committing suicide. There was about two seconds between him jumping out from behind a bridge and the impact noise, during which time I applied the emergency brakes and hit the emergency button on the cab radio. A train was coming towards us from a station about a mile away where it had just departed. I had to stop that train using emergency handsignals (no time to put detonators on the line).

In between stopping that train and arranging the emergency services giving directions to the nearest access point, the location of the incident, what they could expect to find, the location of my train etc, there were drunk idiots banging on the cab door moaning and being general d*cos. I had to tell them what had happened, that we wouldn’t be moving for a while and try to reason with them not to leave the train whilst I went back to see if I could offer any first aid. Unfortunately the bloke was scattered over the entire 600 yards or so it had taken us to stop.

By the time the paramedic arrived the football lot had forced the train doors open and about two dozen were roaming on the track. Good job it wasn’t an electrified area perhaps. If it had been, I’d have been the one who would have had to arrange for the traction current to be switched off in that area. The football lot had no idea where they were (only me and the guard would have known), where they were going or what risks there might be, nor that technically they were trespassing in what was at that point still technically a major crime scene.

Shortly after, about 50 coppers turned up. They helped with evacuating the passengers under my direction until railway incident officials and other on-call staff turned up. There were quite a lot of formalities to do as obviously I was the only person to have seen this bloke’s last moments. A few months later I had to meet the guy’s family at the inquest where I had to explain their son/brother/dad’s last actions.

This is the sort of thing we are trained for and expected to deal with, don’t even get me started on the shifts, the abuse we get, the bricks chucked at us at 100mph+. My basic pay isn’t even 40k, the only reason tube drivers will potentially be earning more than some main line drivers in a few years time is because of the ridiculous prices in That London, that and the Tories don’t want the boat rocking during the limpics.

Maybe some perspective.

cheburashka,

M*n Un***d fans, people slightly inebriated going to Manchester

They must have been travelling up to a home game

Maybe some perspective.

Fair enough.

Surely London Tube drivers are getting paid according to the market rate, y’know, how bankers and that are paid?

I think the biggest problem here is that some people just don’t seem to think others ‘deserve’ what they get paid, if those jobs seem somehow ‘menial’ and servile. Curious as to why those same people don’t have a problem with other professions being ‘overpaid’. As though they’ve categorised people according to their ‘value’ based on social status; a tube driver is of ‘lower’ status than a banker, fr’example. I’ve heard people make similarly prejudiced comments about plumbers, electricians and that. But no-one bats an eyelid at a barrister earning pots of money.

This is what I find unsettling about our society. That someone like a nurse or train driver is considered of ‘lower value’ than someone who works in banking or law etc. You cannot compare the jobs, and indeed nursing especially is far more demanding than sitting in a flippin office ffs.

But whenever tube staff do strike, the first thing that gets talked about in the media is invariable ‘the cost to the economy’. So, surely these people are indeed very important in our society, and we are heavily reliant upon them in order to be able to get to work/earn money/pay bills etc.

So maybe people might wanna stop being so selfish, and look at the bigger picture.

An innertube costs less than a pound, trade. But a fiver retail.

Work it out.

Yup, they were probably heading back into Manchester for their London connections…

I used to work for SWT as a student and the stories the guys there told me about going to pick up parts from within the tunnel etc (this particular tunnel was used as a short cut at night after pubs/bars were throwing out) were abit 😯

Correct, there are people who have the unfortunate job of picking up bits, and obviously the trains need cleaning (underneath etc & driver’s seat)…

http://www.jobsite.co.uk/job/head-of-testing-london-underground-940338410?src=search

cheburashka… if i was wearing a hat, i’d ‘doff my hat to you’.

Rant rant rant rant rant. Here we go again, if you don’t agree with me you are stupid or a Daily Mail stooge

lol, ting

Elfinsafety – Member

But whenever tube staff do strike, the first thing that gets talked about in the media is invariable ‘the cost to the economy’. So, surely these people are indeed very important in our society, and we are heavily reliant upon them in order to be able to get to work/earn money/pay bills etc.

Quite a lot of “bingo” in this post.

i’ve just been out to my car to get a hat, and as promised, i doffed it.

Cheers. It wasn’t an easy day and will unlikely be the last incident like that for me (about another 35 years left yet before I retire). The average driver probably has one every 5 years or so, unsurprisingly they’re more common these days.

Back on topic though, most tube drivers are RMT (most main line drivers Aslef) – the RMT’s B0b Crow can’t resist the temptation of bringing chaos to London using so few pawns.

cheburashka – so nice to hear in such calm terms, what must have been and possibly still is a very serious incident for yourself.

Best wishes for the next 35 years, or more if cm has his way again.

Thanks. Plenty of drivers at work have had the same experiences sadly, but they were by far the best people to talk to about it. We are offered help through official channels and when returning to work have to be accompanied the first time we drive past the location involved. My other half is a qualified counsellor (and animal behaviourist!) so she could keep an eye on me, although I was pretty ok after the first couple of days – knowing you did all you could at the time helps a lot. We went for a bit of sun to Fuerte while I was off too. The other guys affected who turn up to the scene and those who have to clean the mess up don’t tend to get anywhere near as much support as drivers do which is poor. The trains involved are taken out of service ASAP, sent to depots for tests/data-recorder downloads/cleaning/repair if necessary and ours go onto the underframe cleaning pit which washes any rogue bits out (usually fingers etc) which are then put in a biohazard bag and left for collection. Not so dignified.

Worst things post-incident were going to the GP and telling her in a matter-of-fact way I’d killed someone at work less than 36 hours ago and that I need a sicknote; the police coming round weeks later for a statement and then obviously the inquest months later, but the inquest gives you some closure. The family had passed a message through the police in my case early on saying they were sorry and concerned for my welfare which helped a huge amount. It’s rare but some families can struggle to understand things at the inquest and they’re given the opportunity to ask the driver questions on the record, that can be difficult (ie ‘why didn’t you stop’?). The coroners are usually well versed in these inquests though and don’t make you answer daft questions.

The press are usually at the inquests and can be a right PITA – they’ll often latch on to you if they get the chance and try to get you to say something, you have to keep your wits about you. The one I had this year ended up with my name in most of the national papers as it was deemed quite ‘newsworthy’ in some ways.