The Ticket Collector

NXEC £8 singles. TheLondonPaper token collect.

Thanks to an email from one of our browsers we have been informed of an offer which NXEC have quietly released.

You can travel for as low as £8 single from London to Leeds and £11.50 from London to Edinburgh.
Collect two out of the six differently numbered tokens printed in the londonpaper over the next two weeks (starts Monday 14th). Upto four people can travel together with one set of tokens.

Book your tickets now. Dont wait for the tokens before you book, as everybody else will be trying to book the same tickets.

Last date of travel is Sunday 16 March (excludes 8 to 17 Feb 2008). Website bookings close 3 Feb 2008

Seats are available on off-peak services with limited availability on Friday and Sunday afternoons. Bookings must be made at least seven days in advance.

Book at http://www.nationalexpresseastcoast.com/londonpaper

First Great Western strike suspended

As predicted by this blog on sunday, the FGW strike has been suspended pending further talks with FGW managment.

FGW has agreed not to use managers to drive or work trains as guards.

Strike on First Great Western - Sunday January 20th 00:01 for 48hours

We are reciving reports that FGW managment have admitted they are wrong and are looking to meaningfull discussions. The Strike should be called off on Tuesday. Stay tuned for updates.

Press Release from RMT

MORE THAN 600 RMT guards and train drivers at First Great Western will strike for 48 hours from a minute after midnight on January 20 after voting overwhelmingly for action in disputes over breakdowns in industrial relations and the use of managers to guard and drive trains.

The RMT executive this afternoon also agreed to ballot the union’s more than 1,500 other members at the company over similar issues.

Bob Crow said “After considering reports from our people on the ground in First Great Western the RMT executive agreed that our guard and driver members will strike on Sunday January 20 and Monday January 21,” general secretary Bob Crow said this afternoon. First Great Western have angered our members across the company with heavy handed and confrontational management and by undermining our members’ jobs.
We have also therefore agreed to put in place a ballot of more than 1,500 RMT members in all other grades across the company and to urge them to vote for action over what has become a comprehensive breakdown in industrial relations.”

In separate ballots that closed today, drivers voted by 62 (81.6%) to 14 (18.4%) to strike, and by 67 (88.2%) to 9 (11.8%) for action short of strike, while guards voted by 229 (71.1%) to 93 (28.9%) to strike, and by 289 (89.5%) to 34 (10.5%) for action short of strike. The union’s executive will meet shortly to consider what action to call.

RMT Dispute brewing at Northern Rail

RAIL WORKERS who take time off work after being assaulted or abused by passengers are having their pay docked by Northern Rail.

Barely a year after RMT told the company it had to make a bigger effort to combat violence against staff, the union has demanded that Northern Rail abandon a unilateral change in policy that has resulted in victims losing money if they need time off.

The problem came to light after a conductor who had been physically assaulted and threatened with a bottle was told that he would receive only his basic pay rather than average wages, because the latest in a string of attacks on him had not been serious enough.

It seems that Northern Rail are only interested in their shareholders and dont care about their own staff.

Bob Crow said “Until last October the company’s policy had been to pay average wages to all staff who needed time off after suffering violence or abuse from passengers, but the company now says it will only give full pay to victims who receive “severe physical injury”.
This is shocking and completely unacceptable, and the union will do whatever is necessary to get this shameful policy change reversed, It is nothing short of despicable when a loyal worker who has suffered a string of assaults is told that the latest attack wasn’t serious enough to warrant paying his full wages while he recovered and is then told that he may lose his job if he is assaulted again.
Only last April the company reassured our reps that staff who needed time off after serious verbal abuse would receive average pay. but they are now saying that staff will receive only their basic pay if an assault does not result in severe physical injury.
Northern say they have merely clarified the rules, but the reality is that they are clamping down on the victims of abuse rather than those who dish it out, and I have had calls from members who are absolutely furious about the company’s hypocrisy.
We thought we had finally got the company to take seriously our members’ concerns about the growing level of violence they face every day, but it seems once more that they are more worried about their profits than the welfare of their staff,”

Based on Press Release from RMT

Commuter Misery - Its all Notwork Rails fault.

What a good day for the Railway!

Firstly we have the fare revisions. This has made most tickets rise in price by around 4.8%. Some other fares have increased even more!

Secondly Notwork Rail have overrun on the Liverpool Street and Rugby engineering projects
The Liverpool Street Over run.

The bridge demolition outside Liverpool Street, the station work at Stratford and the trackwork at Shenfield was completed on time, however there have been serious problems with the overhead line replacement at Liverpool Street station. Notwork Rail informed ‘one’ Railway that the engineering work was hunky dory and running on time, but very late last night Notwork Rail decided to change their minds.

Notwork Rail engineers are continuing to work at Liverpool Street. Four of the six lines are now available into Liverpool Street, although there are a reduced number of platforms available in the station.

The Rugby Over run.

Notwork Rail has over run yet again on overhead line replacement in the Rugby area. The work was originally planned to have finished by New Years Eve. Notwork Rail have now stated that the line should be reopened around 0500GMT on Friday.

The works at Rugby have left the line closed between Birmingham International and Northampton and Virgin has advised passengers not to use its trains.

A spokesman for Virgin Trains, said: “This is a frustrating time for us and what we are particularly upset about is Network Rail’s inability to say exactly when the line will be back to normal. We would normally have carried around 50,000 to 60,000 people today and it is clear from the numbers travelling today that many people have found other ways of reaching their destination.”

ORR Enquiry.

The Office of Rail Regulation has annouced an urgent enquiry into the over runs and Notwork Rail could possibly recive multimillion pound fines as well as having to pay compensation to the Train Companies concerned.

Claim your compensation if youve been delayed in the last few days.

Passenger Focus (AKA the Rail Passengers Council) have asked all passengers to claim compensation if they have been delayed or canceled their journeys in the last few days due to Notwork Rails failure to complete the engineering work on time.

If you have advance tickets, daily tickets, monthly tickets or even yearly tickets still claim your compensation. It may not be much to you but it will tell the Train Companies that this continuing incompetence from Notwork Rail is unacceptable.

Virgin Trains
Customer Relations Manager
Virgin Trains
Meridian
85 Smallbrook Queensway
Birmingham B5 4HA
Telephone: 0121 654 7400
Email: customer.relations@virgintrains.co.uk

‘one’ Railway
FREEPOST RLSY-GLUC-KHCK
Passenger’s Charter Claims
‘one’ Customer Services Centre
Grosvenor House
112-114 Prince of Wales Road
NORWICH
NR1 1NS