Shortage of train crews on Great Western Railway - ongoing discussion

[whole diary]

[ChrisB]

Responses from Mark H personally come back quite smartish in my experience - he may of course, pass your query to customer services.

[TaplowGreen]

Responses from Mark H personally come back quite smartish in my experience - he may of course, pass your query to customer services.

.......in which case the trainee drivers alluded to earlier by II will probably have retired by the time a reply arrives.....

[chrisr_75]

I agree.  Why not email him personally with that very suggestion?

A TG says, if he needs prompting like that from a disgruntled customer, he really ought to re-consider his future in the service sector.

Like him or loath him, Michael O'Leary has got it spot on this time by holding his hand up and saying 'we made a mistake' and taking the public responsibility. Mr Hopwood, please take note.

[John R]

Though it seems as though Mr O'Leary is at increasing war with his pilots over the issue, so maybe that aspect of his tactics should be avoided.

[chrisr_75]

Though it seems as though Mr O'Leary is at increasing war with his pilots over the issue, so maybe that aspect of his tactics should be avoided.

Indeed.

Nevertheless M.O'L has been big enough to stand up in front of the media and his company's AGM^▸ (Annual General Meeting) and tell them he's made a huge cock up, mostly taking personal responsibility for that problem.

As has been noted elsewhere on the forum, Mr Hopwood seems to have become the invisible man of late, now that things aren't going quite so well to plan.

[IndustryInsider]

Nevertheless M.O'L has been big enough to stand up in front of the media and his company's AGM^▸ (Annual General Meeting) and tell them he's made a huge cock up, mostly taking personal responsibility for that problem.

As has been noted elsewhere on the forum, Mr Hopwood seems to have become the invisible man of late, now that things aren't going quite so well to plan.

I am disappointed as well that Mark Hopwood has not made a public apology - even if it was a letter on the seats of trains as had been the case before.  Though had GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) been on the front cover of national newspapers and a lead article on national TV^▸ (Thames Valley) news programmes, like Ryanair have been, I am sure Mark Hopwood would have been forced into doing something.  Had Ryanair been subjected to the fairly low press coverage, mostly small articles in local newspapers, like GWR have been, then I expect Michael O'Leary would have taken a much lower profiled approach.  He's clearly a worried man!

[chrisr_75]

Nevertheless M.O'L has been big enough to stand up in front of the media and his company's AGM^▸ (Annual General Meeting) and tell them he's made a huge cock up, mostly taking personal responsibility for that problem.

As has been noted elsewhere on the forum, Mr Hopwood seems to have become the invisible man of late, now that things aren't going quite so well to plan.

I am disappointed as well that Mark Hopwood has not made a public apology - even if it was a letter on the seats of trains as had been the case before.  Though had GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) been on the front cover of national newspapers and a lead article on national TV^▸ (Thames Valley) news programmes, like Ryanair have been, I am sure Mark Hopwood would have been forced into doing something.  Had Ryanair been subjected to the fairly low press coverage, mostly small articles in local newspapers, like GWR have been, then I expect Michael O'Leary would have taken a much lower profiled approach.  He's clearly a worried man!

I'm sure M.O'L is indeed a little worried currently! Although a 'marmite' character, his business success in an extremely competitive marketplace cannot be denied and I am sure he will likely turn things around after this slip up, as long as he can do so without alienating his workforce too much.

Mr Hopwood however, has the comfortable umbrella of First Group and a fixed term monopoly position to hide underneath and appears to be doing just that. If the status quo continues at GWR, I can see a few headlines looming on the horizon...

[TaplowGreen]

......as my dear old Grandad used to say, anyone can run, hide, make excuses or blame others, but it takes a man to stand up & say sorry.

[IndustryInsider]

......as my dear old Grandad used to say, anyone can run, hide, make excuses or blame others, but it takes a man to stand up & say sorry.

Or the alternative version of "anyone can run, hide, make excuses or blame others, but it takes a desperate man to stand up & say sorry."

[TaplowGreen]

......as my dear old Grandad used to say, anyone can run, hide, make excuses or blame others, but it takes a man to stand up & say sorry.

Or the alternative version of "anyone can run, hide, make excuses or blame others, but it takes a desperate man to stand up & say sorry."

Not really. There is dignity in apologising for failure. Much more than can be found in hiding behind the Boardroom door. I know which I'd regard as more desperate.

[IndustryInsider]

Oh I agree, TG.  Though dignity from Michael O'Leary doesn't seem to have had much effect on this current Ryanair PR^▸ (Public Relations) disaster.

[Birdie100]

An oddity as a result of this - currently sitting on a class 165  of the delayed 20:13 between Paddington and Ealing Broadway and have the entire train to myself. They were only boarding the front carriages until merging the trains. I then  snuck back to the back three coaches all to myself...

[ChrisB]

Bith the last two Oxford/Banbury shuttles this evening have been cancelled! That's 25% of services today.
Oh, we list the first one today to a failed train too.
So that's actually 37.5% gone today

[Timmer]

Bith the last two Oxford/Banbury shuttles this evening have been cancelled! That's 25% of services today.
Oh, we list the first one today to a failed train too.
So that's actually 37.5% gone today

When I saw that earlier today on Journey Check I thought that would get your attention.

[JayMac]

Bith the last two Oxford/Banbury shuttles this evening have been cancelled! That's 25% of services today.
Oh, we list the first one today to a failed train too.
So that's actually 37.5% gone today

I'll happily help you draft a letter to Mr Hopwood.