Great Western Coffee Shop

Why we can’t cut staff (guards and station)

Yesterday [11th May 2023] I had the misfortune to travel back on the 1731 from Fratton to Westbury due 1910 after visiting my daughter and granddaughter. I actually arrived back at Westbury around 2330 and got home at midnight as there were no options to Dilton Marsh at that time.

As the Southern train which precedes us across the Netley Road was cancelled (as were most of the Southern trains), we were actually on time for once until we came to an abrupt stop just inside Fisherton Tunnel. Apparently someone was threatening to jump off a bridge so all trains had to be stopped. After a lengthy wait just inside the tunnel, the crew were given instructions to take the train back to Dean so people could have “a leg stretch”. We then had about half an hour at Dean before the crew were instructed to take the train to Romsey so a shunt could be done to get the train onto the correct road to go back to Salisbury. As the shunt involved a position light signal, everyone had to detrain and go across to the other platform. As there were no staff at Romsey all waiting rooms and toilets were locked up. There were just over 200 people on the train. The guard had been led to believe that the shunt was happening almost immediately but this wasn’t the case and the signaller wouldn’t allow the shunt to take place until the line at Salisbury had reopened so that the Salisbury platform could be left empty so an SWR Romsey to Romsey shuttle via Chandlers Ford, Eastleigh, Southampton and back via Redbridge could run. We were at Romsey for over 2 hours. Fortunately the guard was very proactive and when he found out the shunt wasn’t imminent he arranged for water to be delivered to Romsey station as many passengers were dehydrated and also for a key to be found to open up the waiting room and toilets. A BTP PCO arrived with these items and he was also extremely helpful assisting the guard with helping distressed passengers.

Had there been no guard on the train, I dread to think what would have happened. The driver would have been unable to assist and reassure passengers in the way that the guard did as quite rightly he is not allowed to leave his cab unattended on the running line. Had there been staff on Romsey station, the waiting room and toilets would have been available as soon as we arrived. Had there been a trolley on the train, refreshments would have been available for those who needed them.

Once again the lack of the Brighton through service reared its ugly head. A number of passengers on the train had already been delayed because the Southern train which should have connected with the previous train had been cancelled meaning they missed the previous Cardiff train adding to the distress levels of occasional passengers. Comments from those that had regularly used the through service included, “Whoever decided to withdraw the service obviously never travels by train” and, “The train was always so busy that I usually had to stand for at least part of the journey.”

Everyone I spoke to and that was a lot of people said they were right behind the strikes because we MUST have a guard on the train and station staff available. They all said without the guard yesterday, things would have been a lot worse.

If you want to pass this missive on to anyone, please feel free to do so as I like all those travelling yesterday are very concerned about what would happen if these very valuable staff were dispensed with just for a bit of penny pinching. They are worth their weight in gold.

"Everyone I spoke to and that was a lot of people said they were right behind the strikes because we MUST have a guard on the train and station staff available. They all said without the guard yesterday, things would have been a lot worse."

There are no plans to remove guards from trains or station staff. The plans are to re-specify job roles to allow staff to provide more customer service functions, so exactly what is being demanded.