Train driver forgot to stop at Didcot Parkway. (BBC News 12/03/2010)

[whole diary]

[John R]

"Oops.... missed Diddy. Not to worry, Control'll sort it out for me"

Praising Control for sorting out the balls-up only reinforces the attitude that a missed stop is an acceptable operational occurence. Inattentiveness can kill.....

I don't think it reinforces that attitude at all, and I'm sure the driver didn't feel the way you describe after realising he had made a mistake. Yes, inattentiveness can kill, and does every day on the roads. The fact that we have now gone more than three years without a passenger being killed on the railways demonstrates that the railways take safety very seriously.

The fact is that Control did the best thing they could to mitigate the situation for passengers, and whilst you might argue that this is what they are paid to do, a little bit of praise does no harm in the circumstances. 
 

[inspector_blakey]

Come on bignosemac, we don't normally see that kind of Daily Mail-style hyperbole from you!

Inattentiveness can kill, yes. However, it can also modestly inconvenience, which is what happened in this case. Once the driver has missed the station there's nothing anyone can do about the mistake (I'm assuming you wouldn't advocate an emergency brake application and setting back wrong-line to Didcot!) so it's up to Control to deal with the consequences. Which it sounds like they did very well in a difficult situation.

I don't know why you seem to have got the impression that it's regarded as an acceptable operational incident. The driver will be checked for "fitness" at the earliest opportunity, and assuming s/he is fit to continue will do so. Would you rather that the onward working of the service were cancelled for want of a driver, thereby causing far more inconvenience than the original incident?

Fact is, a "fail to call" done under clear signals endangers nobody and inconveniences some. We don't know the circumstances of the incident in question either - who's to say that there wasn't an error in the diagram the driver had on the desk? Whatever the case it's not a safety-related issue, although I have no doubt that if a particular driver made a habit of it then appropriate investigations would be made.

[JayMac]

Okay.....time to admit to a personal connection to this incident. Not posted before because I was only indirectly affected.

I was waiting to meet a friend at Bristol Parkway travelling from Oxford who was waiting at Didcot when the 1856 to Swansea with the lead-booted driver sped through. By the time station staff had sorted what was going on and my mate had evaluated his options it was too late to get the next Swindon and change onto the 1845 ex PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains) which legitimately skips Didcot!

So he gets on the next Swansea at 1956 arriving at BPW^» (Bristol Parkway - next trains) 59 mins later than he should have. And guess what? FGW^▸ (First Great Western) have played hard ball and offered diddly squat in compensation, for which my friend waited 4 weeks to be told. Yes, I know the rule is one hour, but perversely if he'd been travelling to Swindon or beyond Cardiff he'd've got the compo. Not even a goodwill gesture.

Our evening plans were ruined, turning up an hour late for a meal.

So forgive the 'Daily Mail' style hyperbole, but I ain't feeling particularly charitable toward FGW for this incident.

[John R]

Our evening plans were ruined, turning up an hour late for a meal.

That does sound like a real calamity, and clearly justifies the comments that the railway industry doesn't care about safety.

[The Tall Controller]

I was on a Newquay train and wanted to get off at Luxulyan. Driver had to make a sharp stop as he almost forgot and left me to get off on the overgrown part of the station!

[unfarepayingpassenger]

I'm not surprised at the lack of compensation. You were lucky to get an apology. fgw have been quite bad at sharing information, although they have made a few announcements about delays recently, but it's not consistent.
One of my colleagues was on this train. He's a season ticket holder, so the chances of him getting compensation are about as high as getting an integrated railway run in the interests of the passengers.

[ChrisB]

Indeed - their punctuality is such that it'll now take months of late trains to provide any season ticket compensation.