Yatton Station - car parking, staffing, incidents and engineering work (merged topic)

[whole diary]

[clevedonian]

Hi, i am new here.(although have lurked a lot)

Just a quick question i travel everyday from Yatton to Brizzle, and it is in general a very good service i think.

I have applied for a couple of jobs at FGW^▸ (First Great Western), trainnee driver, conductor but have not had much luck, however i have seen a new job advertised at Yatton Station

https://firstgroup.hua.hrsmart.com/ats/js_job_details.php?reqid=172

but the problem is i don't really understand what it could be? as Yatton is only a small station and is closed most of the day what would you be engineering.

Wonder if any of you guys would know, thanks!!

[Ollie]

Says Oxford?

[grahame]

Says Oxford?

Ah ... not just me that was puzzled.  Perhaps the job agency have changed the URLs around, or Clevedonian pasted the next link up / down from the one of interest?

Clevedonian - welcome to the forum.   As you see / know, there are people here who can respond very knowledgably on things like this ... if you can clarify the URL or paste an extract from the job description in question (under copyright, that's fine to do for review / discussion purposes) and I'm sure we'll get your query answered!

[Ollie]

Looking at the vacancies I do not see anything advertised at Yatton, it is quite possible that something may have originally been attributed to Yatton in error.

[clevedonian]

thanks guys, it definately said Yatton last night, or perhaps i am going mad!

I did wonder becasue Yatton is only a small station!

[Chris from Nailsea]

... but not as small as Nailsea & Backwell these days ... 

Welcome to the forum, clevedonian!   

[Oxman]

It's definitely a job for a Duty Manager at Oxford's Rewley Road sidings.

OK if you like permanent nights, I believe!

[inspector_blakey]

Back in Thames Trains days, was it the duty manager at Rewley Road who was responsible for co-ordinating the overnight distribution of litter through the turbo fleet to ensure that they entered service suitably filthy the next morning? 

The 165 and 166 fleet comes in for some bad press, but at least FGW^▸ (First Great Western) actually takes reasonable care of it these days. Gone are the days of wading through litter in a train with heavily etched windows, graffiti on the inside, torn seat covers and overflowing toilets...

It always used to remind me of a brief "Not the Nine O'Clock News" sketch which, sadly, I can't find on youtube. Two British Rail cleaners are sitting having a ciggy in a (clean) train with full bin bags of litter. The guard (Rowan Atkinson) walks through and barks "Come on, this train has to be ready to leave in 10 minutes". The cleaners reluctantly get up and start distributing the contents of their litter bags all over the seats and floor...

[clevedonian]

Hi Guys.

Who owns the carpark at Yatton Station, as they are putting the price up from ^1.00 a day to ^2.10 a day.

I know we have had it good for so long, but to more than double the price is shocking.

Thanks

[devon_metro]

Indeed, Totnes has gone from an (unreasonable) ^3.90 to ^5!! Ouch.

[John R]

IIRC^▸ (if I recall/remember/read correctly), when charges were first introduced at Yatton the ^2 charge was soon reduced to ^1, partly because of the amount of on street parking that resulted from it.

Drive to Nailsea instead and park for free. Er, except it's full after 8am.

[Chris from Nailsea]

The car park (and station approach) at Yatton is owned by FGW^▸ (First Great Western), as it is part of the station.

The car park at Nailsea & Backwell is owned by Nailsea Town Council.  And, despite posters threatening all sorts of dire consequences for transgressors parking there, I'm not aware of anyone being fined the ^70 they mention.

However, as John R says, the car park is full before 8:00 ... 

[smithy]

Hi Guys.

Who owns the carpark at Yatton Station, as they are putting the price up from ^1.00 a day to ^2.10 a day.

I know we have had it good for so long, but to more than double the price is shocking.

Thanks

APCOA^▸ (Car parking company used at GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) - controlled stations in the area) in charge of car park prices and revenue collection on behalf of FGW^▸ (First Great Western)

[JayMac]

Hi Guys.

Who owns the carpark at Yatton Station, as they are putting the price up from ^1.00 a day to ^2.10 a day.

I know we have had it good for so long, but to more than double the price is shocking.

Thanks

APCOA^▸ (Car parking company used at GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) - controlled stations in the area) in charge of car park prices and revenue collection on behalf of FGW^▸ (First Great Western)

Hang on....I thought FGW where responsible for the pricing. They got all the brickbats following the recent hikes.

[Chris from Nailsea]

Car parking costs have also increased at Yate.  See the Bristol Evening Post:

Anger over railway station parking fee rise

Rail users have condemned increases in parking fees at Yate station, saying they are having to fork out more money while getting nothing in return.

The all-day parking fee at the station recently more than doubled to ^2.10 - a move branded as a "rip-off" by Northavon MP^▸ (Member of Parliament) Steve Webb.

Yate was among a number of stations in the Bristol area where parking rates went up last week, leading to a protest to First Great Western (FGW^▸ (First Great Western)) from the town council.

It has now received a letter from the train operator saying the increase was necessary to pay for repairs and maintenance of its car parks, as well as the maintenance of ticket machines and CCTV^▸ (Closed Circuit Tele Vision).

But Yate has no CCTV system and its ticket machine has not been replaced since being vandalised, despite a pledge to install a more robust version.

The Friends of Yate Station lobby group said it was also angry that it had not been told of the increase in fees, despite meeting in the last few weeks.

Town councillor Chris Willmore, who is a member of the Friends group, said: "We'd love CCTV and ticket machines. Sadly First Great Western has taken the ticket machine away and says it cannot install CCTV."

The group said by putting up the cost of parking, passengers could be put off using the train, relying instead on their cars and adding to congestion.

There is also concern people will park in residential streets to avoid the car park fee. The letter from FGW customer services adviser Janine Bailey to Yate Town Council said: "We haven't increased some of our parking prices for three years but we do need to ensure we cover the costs involved with maintaining the car park. Parking at our stations is still value for money and we continue to offer period discounted season tickets for rail users. To try to encourage sustainable transport to and from our stations, we also work closely with local bus companies to provide suitable links, so that passengers do not have to rely on the car to reach the station."

But Sue Walker, chairwoman of the Friends group and a Yate councillor, said: "There are no bus links with the station so all their arguments for putting up the fee are nonsense."

Parking at Yate used to be free and when at attempt was made to introduce a ^2 charge, it led to a boycott by drivers until the charge was cut to ^1.

Councillor Walker said: "They parked in the trading centre across the road instead and I hope people will take similar action this time."