Morning:
6°c
Tube staff throw the book at ‘patronising’ transport boss Peter Hendy
9 Aug 2010
Transport Commissioner Peter Hendy has started a row by joking that Tube ticket office staff are so underworked they have time to read books.
He told a conference: “If you want to read a lot of good novels the best place to do that is as a booking clerk in a suburban Underground station.”
TSSA ticket office and managerial staff are voting for strike action in protest over job cuts and officials are handing out seaside postcards featuring the words as staff book on for shifts.
TSSA general secretary Gerry Doherty said Mr Hendy's comment was “patronising” and offensive. A Transport for London spokesman said: “This comment says everything about the success of Oyster in reducing ticket office transactions and nothing about our staff, who are much more useful to passengers by being visible in ticket halls and platforms.”
Reader views (11)
So Peter Hendy says staff in ticket offices spend large amounts of time reading - well what else do you expect Booking Office staff to do?
- Melvyn Windebank, Canvey Island, Essex, 15/08/2010 16:39
Report abuse
Just how much does he cost the taxpayer? Hope TfL’s cost cutting starts with him!
- kayesk, London, UK, 13/08/2010 16:48
Report abuse
You are well named Kevin B. Station staff included the CSAs on the barrier and platforms, the ticket office staff and the Station Supervisors, so who exactly are you dismissing as useless?.
The number on any given station is decided on how many people it would take to evacuate the station in an emergency within a given time and without that number present the station stays shut.
The CSA on the barrier is there to deal with any ticket/Oyster failures without having to refer them to the Ticket Office and to answer basic queries like “how do I get to…”. They also have to receive fire training, know every nook and cranny of the station (simple some places not so easy at the larger station and as stations are in groups some staff have to know them all) and what their responsibility is during an evac. They are also trained to walk on “live” track should the Supervisor need to go down to deal with a problem and needs someone with him.
Ticket office staff have exactly the same training as CSAs with the addition of being able to run the ticket office. I’m not going to even begin to start to list what a Supervisor has to know and is responsible for, that would take ages. But let’s not forget that stations open around 5am and don’t shut till 1am, I doubt if you get up one week to start a dead early shift and could be finishing a dead late shift the next.
Not so much walk a mile in another man’s shoes as stand for 8 hours on a freezing cold station in a CSAs DMs.
- ASLEF shrugged, Leyton, UK, 10/08/2010 11:46
Report abuse
It's only fair to flag up my experience at the ticket kiosk at Waterloo Undergreound last Wednesday. My Oyster card had been docked £4.30 for the journey from Waterloo East to Charing Cross.
The ticket kiosk was doing farly brisk trade so I had to wait for a few minute. When my turn came the clerk looked at my activity record and explained that I'd missed a swipe - the points at Waterloo East are not obvious - but was satisfied as my charges for the day had already been capped. He refunded the offending charge immediately. This ticket clerk was busy, courteous and helpful.
Perhaps some of TFL's so-called managers could learn a lot from this employee.
- Jayceeyoukay, Surrey, UK, 10/08/2010 11:34
Report abuse
Most of the tube staff are completely useless !! We know that they are protected by the unions and as a result they cannot be sacked or "downsized" like the rest of us. As a result they just have to stand around looking mildly gormless (not difficulty for most of them) and watching the clock till time to go home. At my local tube, Turnham Green, the booking staff are sometimes buys, but the station staff redefine the concept of useless standabout twits.
- Kevin Bollox, London, 10/08/2010 08:22
Report abuse
I think what he has said is outrageous. He is trying to imply we dont need ticket offices any more. Have you seen the queues at ticket offices in tube stations? Theres never any time for the staff to be reading books! And thats a bad bit of management if i ever saw one. Fancy putting down your staff like that!
- Mel B, London UK, 09/08/2010 22:02
Report abuse
Bit of history Ian, trade unions grew out of exploitation of workers by bosses and succeeded despite government declaring them illegal. They helped create and maintain the fair society you enjoy today, any attempt to “annihilate” them will be futile. The private sector was let loose on the railways (Railtrack, PPP) and proved themselves incapable of handling the job at a huge cost to the taxpayer, the bosses walked away with handsome golden handshakes, don’t her you complaining about that.
Quite honestly a series of one day strikes will do nothing to stop the job cuts on the Tube, RMT never miss a chance to cause a bit of a fuss but then TSSA has been cooperative, avoided strike action for years and that hasn’t done them any good, has it. What confuses me is that in the run up to 2012 TfL keep telling us that they intend to lay on a premium service but with less than two years to go they are cutting staff numbers, so who’s going to be out there dealing with this huge influx of tourists?
- ASLEF shrugged, Leyton, UK, 09/08/2010 19:38
Report abuse
Regardless of the belief of this individual or anyone else on here, he is a one of their big bosses and therefore should not be slandering the positions of his front-line staff. No 'good' boss would dare to think of passing so - called jokes like this!
- RailwayEmployee, London, 09/08/2010 17:03
Report abuse
to be honest , private sector workers earn more money than public sector workers and thats a fact. private sec workers also enjoy benefits i.e. health care, car schemes, payrises etc. give public sector workers a break. private sector jobs r demanding and gives the individual a sense of fulfilment as well as good working skills and experience. Public sector work is boring, lowly paid and not very challenging hence it gets boring but they stick it out so please give them a break.
- jeff, peckham, 09/08/2010 14:25
Report abuse
Not the brightest buttons on the blazer these Trade Union guys are they. Do they have a single brain cell and share it around to the one in most urgent need? If so, clearly Mr Doherty was not the man in possession when he made these comments.
TFL want to prove there is no value in maintaining suburban booking office staff. So what does he do, suggests they go on strike! Whilst it may create problems in Central London if the network continues to function in any form it will prove the case for TFL.
Bring it on; I cannot remember a time when there was more appetite amongst real (i.e. private sector) workers, rather than public sector shirkers, to break the unions. We have had enough of blackmailing trade unions and their members, gold plated pensions and all.
If the unions want to serve up a winter of discontent let’s have it, it is their Labour pal Gordon Brown who with his profligate spending on the public sector has brought the country to the edge of bankruptcy so we know exactly who to blame. I remember the 70’s and there was nowhere near the same resentment of the public sector that there is now.
The annihilation of the trade union movement and the redistribution (i.e. closure) of the public sector pension schemes should be the number one political objective if Britain is ever to become a fair place to live again for all its citizens. How much of a rise could be given to pensioners if the public sector had their pensions redistributed across all of society?
- Ian, London, 09/08/2010 14:01
Report abuse
Somebody calling it as it is. Now theres a surprise
- George, London, 09/08/2010 13:35
Report abuse
