Southern rail chaos ‘is staff revenge for protest by commuters’

Southern rail commuters have accused the operator of running a poor service
Lucy Young
John Dunne @jhdunne17 June 2016

Commuters have accused Southern rail workers of taking “revenge” on them for staging a protest at staffing problems that have crippled services.

More than 100 people joined the demonstration at Brighton station on Tuesday evening — and on Wednesday morning services into London were badly hit by a lack of train staff.

The protesters brandished placards demanding improvements and calling for the Southern franchise to be stripped from Govia for repeated cancellations, delays and overcrowding. On Twitter they branded the operator “Southern Fail”. Some people were late for the protest due to delayed trains.

About 120,000 people rely on Southern to get to and from the capital at peak times each weekday. Services have been hit by three staff walkouts and cancellations blamed on staffing problems, which Southern claims is down to union members calling in sick.

Talks to end a row over driver-only trains and changing the role of conductors have broken up without a deal. The RMT union says the current role of conductors is vital for safety, and it is set to strike again on Tuesday from 7.30am to 6.30pm, with no services from Clapham Junction to Milton Keynes. Charlotte Hull, 38, from Brighto, claimed rail staff wanted to make commuters pay for their act of defiance.

She said her total commute to Covent Garden, which should have taken about an hour and a half, more than doubled after trains were cancelled on Wednesday morning: “They were obviously looking for revenge. It was bit of an act of evil to get back at us for protesting.

“The service is diabolical, I pay £400 a month for this shambles. All direct trains to Victoria in the key commuting hours were cancelled because of staff shortages. It’s a nightmare.”

Commuter Alicia McWhinnie added: “The management are using passengers as pawns in their dispute. They y need to sit down and sort it out.” The dispute has been dubbed the “sick-note strike”, but the RMT has blamed poor management and a lack of sufficient staffing.

Southern denied claims of revenge — pointing out services on Wednesday were no worse than on other days. It apologised for “a significant downturn in service ... our service has been hit by industrial action. There is an unprecedented level of conductor sickness. We’ve also had to cancel some trains due to a reluctance to work overtime.” The RMT declined to comment.

Commuters are set to suffer more chaos when another strike is held on Tuesday.

The move is the latest in a bitter dispute between the train company and the union over the role of conductors on Southern trains.

Southern operator Govia Thameslink (GTR) said the action was “entirely unnecessary”.

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